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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a pathogen emerging in hospitals as well as community and livestock. MRSA is a significant and costly public health concern because it may enter the human food chain and contaminate milk and dairy products causing foodborne illness. This study aimed to determine the occurrence and the characteristics of MRSA isolated from 3760 samples of milk and dairy products in a previous survey conducted in southern Italy during 2008-2014. Overall out of 484 S. aureus strains isolated, 40 (8.3%) were MRSA and were characterized by spa-typing, Multi-Locus Sequence Typing, SCCmec typing, Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) genes, Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) genes and ability to form biofilm. The most frequently recovered STs were ST152 (t355-67.5%), followed by ST398 (t899, t108-25%), ST1 (t127-5%) and ST5 (t688-2.5%). All isolates harboured the SCCmec type V (92.5%) or IVa (25%). In one isolate (2.5%), ST398/t899, the SCCmec resulted not detected. Three isolates (7.5%) carried one or more enterotoxin encoding genes (one strain had seg, sei, sem, sen and seo genes; two strains had seh gene). The 50% of isolated strains harboured PVL-encoding genes. Molecular analysis for icaA and icaD genes showed: 72.5% icaA and icaD positive, 25% only icaD gene and one icaA and icaD negative. The detection of MRSA in food of animal origin is a potential health hazard, thus it is necessary monitoring of food-producing animals and improving hygiene standards in food practices in order to reduce the microbiological risk to minimum.

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Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been object of debate in the scientific community since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. This mechanism of transmission could arise from virus-laden aerosol released by infected individuals and it is influenced by several factors. Among these, the concentration and size distribution of virus-laden particles play an important role. The knowledge regarding aerosol transmission increases as new evidence is collected in different studies, even if it is not yet available a standard protocol regarding air sampling and analysis, which can create difficulties in the interpretation and application of results. This work reports a systematic review of current knowledge gained by 73 published papers on experimental determination of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air comparing different environments: outdoors, indoor hospitals and healthcare settings, and public community indoors. Selected papers furnished 77 datasets: outdoor studies (9/77, 11.7%) and indoor studies (68/77. 88.3%). The indoor datasets in hospitals were the vast majority (58/68, 85.3%), and the remaining (10/68, 14.7%) were classified as community indoors. The fraction of studies having positive samples, as well as positivity rates (i.e. ratios between positive and total samples) are significantly larger in hospitals compared to the other typologies of sites. Contamination of surfaces was more frequent (in indoor datasets) compared to contamination of air samples; however, the average positivity rate was lower compared to that of air. Concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air were highly variables and, on average, lower in outdoors compared to indoors. Among indoors, concentrations in community indoors appear to be lower than those in hospitals and healthcare settings.

The poultry red mite (PRM), Dermanyssus gallinae, is a nonburrowing haematophagous nest-dwelling ectoparasite of birds; occasionally it bites humans, inducing dermatitis. The possibility that this parasite may also be involved in transmission of pathogens is an additional concern. We investigated the presence of zoonotic agents in PRMs from bird nests and pets, and related them to urban outbreaks of dermatitis. A total of 98 PRMs from 12 outbreaks of PRM dermatitis that occurred in Italian cities from 2001 to 2017 were molecularly investigated for detection of Coxiella spp. (16S rRNA), Chlamydophila spp. (16S rRNA), Rickettsia spp. (17 kDa protein-encoding gene), Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (groEL gene) and Bartonella spp. (16S–23S rRNA intergenic spacer). Of the 12 tested mite pools, one was positive for Coxiella burnetii (100% identity) and two for B. burgdorferi sensu lato (99% with Borrelia afzelii). For the first time, the presence of B. burgdorferi sensu lato and C. burnetii is reported in PRMs from urban areas. Birds, mainly pigeons, can harbour both pathogens. Therefore, birds and their nest-dwelling PRMs may play a role in the epidemiology of these infections.

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COVID-19 pandemic raised a debate regarding the role of airborne transmission. Information regarding virus-laden aerosol concentrations is still scarce in community indoors and what are the risks for general public and the efficiency of restriction policies. This work investigates, for the first time in Italy, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in air samples collected in different community indoors (one train station, two food markets, one canteen, one shopping centre, one hair salon, and one pharmacy) in three Italian cities: metropolitan city of Venice (NE of Italy), Bologna (central Italy), and Lecce (SE of Italy). Air samples were collected during the maximum spread of the second wave of pandemic in Italy (November and December 2020). All collected samples tested negative for the presence of SARS-CoV-2, using both real-time RT-PCR and ddPCR, and no significant differences were observed comparing samples taken with and without customers. Modelling average concentrations, using influx of customers’ data and local epidemiological information, indicated low values (i.e. < 0.8 copies m −3 when cotton facemasks are used and even lower for surgical facemasks). The results, even if with some limitations, suggest that the restrictive policies enforced could effectively reduce the risk of airborne transmissions in the community indoor investigated, providing that physical distance is respected. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-16737-7.