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BackgroundThe Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is generally recognized to be the direct cause of cervical cancer. The development of effective anti-HPV vaccines, included in the portfolio of recommended vaccinations for any given community, led to the consolidation in many countries of immunization programs to prevent HPV-related cervical cancers. In recent years, increasing evidence in epidemiology and molecular biology have supported the oncogenic role of HPV in the development of other neoplasm including condylomas and penile, anal, vulvar, vaginal, and oro-pharyngeal cancers. Men play a key role in the paradigm of HPV infection: both as patients and as part of the mechanisms of transmission. Data show they are affected almost as often as women. Moreover, no screening procedures for HPV-related disease prevention are applied in men, who fail to undergo routine medical testing by any medical specialist at all. They also do not benefit from government prevention strategies.DiscussionA panel of experts convened to focus on scientific, medical, and economic studies, and on the achievements from health organizations’ intervention programs on the matter. One of the goals was to discuss on the critical issues emerging from the ongoing global implementation of HPV vaccination. A second goal was to identify contributions which could overcome the barriers that impede or delay effective vaccination programs whose purpose is to eradicate the HPV infection both in women and men.SummaryThe reviewed studies on the natural history of HPV infection and related diseases in women and men, the increasing experience of HPV vaccination in women, the analysis of clinical effectiveness vs economic efficacy of HPV vaccination, are even more supportive of the economic sustainability of vaccination programs both in women and men. Those achievements address increasing and needed attention to the issue of social equity in healthcare for both genders.

Vaccine hesitancy is an important issue to be addressed, due to the risk of decrease of vaccination coverage and consequent control of preventable diseases. While it is not considered a specific determinant, poor or inadequate communication can contribute to vaccine hesitancy and negatively influence vaccination uptake. As a contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding this theme and in the perspective of the implementation of the upcoming national vaccination plan in Italy, the Erice Declaration was drafted by experts in the field of immunization following a 5-day residential, independent workshop regarding communication topics in vaccinology. The aim of the current letter is to present to the broader international audience such a contribution, proposing the identification of the main actions that should be taken into account and prioritized in order to improve communication in the domain of vaccination.

Data are presented on the occurrence of chloracne, clinical symptoms and biochemical changes in 164 children following environmental contamination by TCDD from an industrial accident in Seveso, Italy. An overall positive association was found between the territorial distribution of chloracne cases and the different levels of soil contamination in the affected area. Individual risk factors such as condition and length of exposure, intake via contaminated foods, etc. were evaluated; no single factor appeared to be associated with chloracne. Disturbances of the gastrointestinal tract were more frequently observed in children affected with chloracne in those from the same areas having no skin lesions. However, no clinically definable systemic disease has been diagnosed.

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This paper reports the results of a study conducted by the Italian Association for Immune-Prophylaxis Promotion (AIP.I) with the aim of surveying the attitudes and perceptions of Italian health care workers regarding the use and efficacy of influenza vaccine. The results clearly show that a high proportion of the questioned health care workers showed a general lack of concern about the severity of the disease. Doubts about vaccine efficacy and fear of post-vaccination side effects were also observed to have an important influence on the vaccination acceptance rates. These data underline the need for a systematic education program to provide influenza vaccination within the public and private health-care sectors in Italy.

The importance of healthcare providers' communication abilities is still underestimated. Informing the population on the basis of documented evidence is essential but not enough to induce a change in the beliefs of who is doubtful or does not accept preventive interventions, such as vaccination. Lining up the offer of prevention to the knowledge of the citizens, also improving Health Literacy skills, is a critical step toward their empowerment and behavior change. The 2017 Erice Declaration was drafted to propose to the Institutions and the scientific community the main goals to improve communication and counteract Vaccine Hesitancy, at a very critical time, when mandatory vaccination was introduced in Italy.

A seroepidemiological survey of a group of drug abusers has been carried out to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus, hepatitis D virus, hepatitis A virus infection markers in sera, as well as to evaluate the role of potential risk factors. A total of 645 symptomless subjects with a history of injecting heroin were recruited as volunteers from methadone maintenance centres in Rome. For all hepatitis viruses the total figures showed high prevalence rates giving considerable viral circulation in this group. Among heroin addicts the prevalence was 63.4% for HCV, 65% for HBV, 13.3% for HDV and 50.9% for HAV. Anti-HCV prevalence correlated with serological evidence of HBV infection. A significant correlation was also found between presence of HCV antibodies and exposure time to drug addiction > 5 years earlier. The data reveal the important role played by needle sharing in the spreading of multiple infections among intravenous drug abusers (IVDA).