The Chikungunya epidemic in Italy and its repercussion on the blood system.

Background: The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and recently caused a massive epidemic on La Réunion Island, in the Indian Ocean. Between July and September 2007 it caused the first autochthonous epidemic outbreak in Europe, in the Region of Emilia-Romagna in the north-east of Italy.

Materials And Methods: After the first reports of an unusually high number of patients with a febrile illness of unknown origin in two contiguous villages, an outbreak investigation was carried out to identify the primary source of infection, the modes of transmission and the dynamics of the epidemic.

Quality control of recovered plasma for fractionation: an extensive Italian study.

Background: This study was aimed at obtaining significant information on the quality of whole-blood plasma (WBP) delivered to a private pharmaceutical company by the blood transfusion centers (BTCs) of 10 Italian regions.

Study Design And Methods: A statistical sampling plan of plasma units took into account the contribution each selected blood transfusion center, belonging to the 10 regions, made to the plasma pool annually delivered to the pharmaceutical company. A total of 1787 plasma units were selected for coagulation Factor VIII (FVIII:C) and Factor VIII antigen (FVIII:Ag) analysis.