Have Diagnostics, Therapies, and Vaccines Made the Difference in the Pandemic Evolution of COVID-19 in Comparison with "Spanish Flu"?

In 1918 many countries, but not Spain, were fighting World War I. Spanish press could report about the diffusion and severity of a new infection without censorship for the first-time, so that this pandemic is commonly defined as "Spanish flu", even though Spain was not its place of origin. "Spanish flu" was one of the deadliest pandemics in history and has been frequently compared with the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic.

A Historical Review of Military Medical Strategies for Fighting Infectious Diseases: From Battlefields to Global Health.

The environmental conditions generated by war and characterized by poverty, undernutrition, stress, difficult access to safe water and food as well as lack of environmental and personal hygiene favor the spread of many infectious diseases. Epidemic typhus, plague, malaria, cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis, tetanus, and smallpox have nearly constantly accompanied wars, frequently deeply conditioning the outcome of battles/wars more than weapons and military strategy. At the end of the nineteenth century, with the birth of bacteriology, military medical researchers in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France were active in discovering the etiological agents of some diseases and in developing preventive vaccines.

Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Markers in Patients with Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases in Italy.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be reactivated by immunosuppressive drugs in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. This study evaluates HBV serum markers' prevalence in rheumatic outpatients belonging to Spondyloarthritis, Chronic Arthritis and Connective Tissue Disease diagnostic groups in Italy. The study enrolled 302 subjects, sex ratio (M/F) 0.

Lack of evidence for post-vaccine onset of autoimmune/lymphoproliferative disorders, during a nine-month follow-up in multiply vaccinated Italian military personnel.

Anecdotal case reports, amplified by mass media and internet-based opinion groups, have recently indicated vaccinations as possibly responsible for autoimmunity/lymphoproliferation development. Multiply vaccinated Italian military personnel (group 1, operating in Italy, group 2, operating in Lebanon) were followed-up for nine months to monitor possible post-vaccine autoimmunity/lymphoproliferation onset. No serious adverse event was noticed in both groups.

Risk of malignancy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis under immunosuppressive therapy: a single-center experience.

Systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases are associated with an increased risk of malignancy, in particular of lymphoproliferative disorders. Chronic inflammation, due to the disease itself, generates a microenvironment able to promote cancer development, but it is still controversial whether immunosuppressive therapy may contribute to carcinogenesis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the risk of malignancy in 399 patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, all treated with either tumor necrosis factor α-inhibitors plus disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or DMARDs alone.

[Cancer incidence in the military: an update].

An abnormally elevated rate of Hodgkin's lymphoma was reported in 2001 among Italian soldiers in Bosnia and Kosovo since 1995: a surveillance system was therefore set up for the military community. Preliminary results for a longer period (1996-2007) have shown incidence rates lower than expected for all malignancies. No significant difference was registered between observed and expected cases of Hodkin's lymphoma: the excess of reported cases for this malignancy in 2001-2002 was probably due to a peak occurred in 2000 among the whole military; it is therefore unrelated to deployment in the Balkans, and probably represents a chance event.

Evaluation of cancer surveillance completeness among the Italian army personnel, by capture-recapture methodology.

Objective: This study provides an assessment of completeness of cancer surveillance and incidence estimates for all malignancies, Hodgkin's lymphoma and thyroid cancer in the Italian army, for the years 2001-2007.

Methods: The two-source capture-recapture method was employed, using both Chapman's and Chao's formulae, on the basis of cancer notifications from military hospitals and unit infirmaries. The estimated incident cases were then confronted with the corresponding expected cases; the standardized incidence ratios and 95% confidence intervals (SIR [95% CI]) were then calculated.

Cancer surveillance in Italian army peacekeeping troops deployed in Bosnia and Kosovo, 1996-2007: preliminary results.

Objective: An excess of cancer cases was reported in 2000 among Italian troops involved in peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo. A preliminary assessment of cancer risk in this cohort was done for the period 1996-2007, based on cancer surveillance activity, which was started in 2001.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was done among 27361 Italian Army soldiers deployed in Bosnia, 31052 deployed in Kosovo, and a control group of non-deployed soldiers, whose number varies from 130275 in 1996 to 40967 in 2007.

Probable dengue virus infection among Italian troops, East Timor, 1999-2000.

To investigate the attack rate and risk factors for probable dengue fever, a cross-sectional study was conducted of an Italian military unit after its deployment to East Timor. Probable dengue was contracted by 16 (6.6%) of 241 army troops and caused half of all medical evacuations (12/24); no cases were detected among navy and air force personnel.

Vaccination policies in the military: an insight on influenza.

Influenza, despite its generally benign clinical course, is accompanied by absenteeism from work, acute suffering and even mortality, mainly in the elderly and in subjects who have high-risk medical conditions. Its prevention consists of strain specific vaccination, which must be repeated annually due to the high antigenic variability of the influenza virus. Influenza may represent an important obstacle to military readiness, particularly when considering its infectivity within closed communities.