Autochthonous dengue outbreak in Marche Region, Central Italy, August to October 2024.

Between August and 28 October 2024, 199 autochthonous cases of dengue virus serotype 2 were notified in the city of Fano, central Italy. We describe the ongoing epidemiological and microbiological investigation and public health measures implemented to contain the outbreak. The high transmissibility and the extension of the outbreak suggest that dengue should be expected in temperate regions during favourable seasons, highlighting the need for heightened awareness among healthcare providers and the public to ensure timely detection and response.

Sex differences in response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in Italian population.

Since the beginning of mass vaccination campaign for COVID-19 in Italy (December 2020) and following the rapidly increasing vaccine administration, sex differences have been emphasized. Nevertheless, incomplete and frequently incoherent sex-disaggregated data for COVID-19 vaccinations are currently available, and vaccines clinical studies generally do not include sex-specific analyses for safety and efficacy. We looked at sex variations in the COVID-19 vaccine's effectiveness against infection and severe disease outcomes.

Case-time series study on the short-term impact of meteorological factors on West Nile Virus incidence in Italy at the local administrative unit level, 2012 to 2021.

Introduction: West Nile Virus (WNV) is a significant public health concern in southern Europe, with meteorological, climatic, and environmental factors playing a critical role in its transmission dynamics. This study aims to assess the short-term effects of meteorological variables on the incidence of WNV in five Italian regions in Northern Italy from 2012 to 2021.

Methods: Linking epidemiological data from the national surveillance system and local meteorological data, we conducted a Case-Time Series analysis to examine the association between WNV incident cases and temperature, humidity, and precipitation recorded up to ten weeks before case occurrence at the local administrative unit level.

Impact of the 2023/24 autumn-winter COVID-19 seasonal booster campaign in preventing severe COVID-19 cases in Italy (October 2023-March 2024).

We assessed the impact of the 2023/2024 COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Italy by estimating the number of averted COVID-19 severe cases (i.e. COVID-19 associated hospitalisations or deaths) between October 2023 and March 2024, in those aged ≥60 years.

Increasing situational awareness through nowcasting of the reproduction number.

Background: The time-varying reproduction number R is a critical variable for situational awareness during infectious disease outbreaks; however, delays between infection and reporting of cases hinder its accurate estimation in real-time. A number of nowcasting methods, leveraging available information on data consolidation delays, have been proposed to mitigate this problem.

Methods: In this work, we retrospectively validate the use of a nowcasting algorithm during 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy by quantitatively assessing its performance against standard methods for the estimation of R.