Residents In Rome Research Articles

An Easter outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium DT 104A associated with traditional pork salami in Italy

Salmonella enterica is a common cause of gastrointestinal illness in Italy. S. Typhimurium accounts for approximately 40% of isolates, and most of these strains belong to the phage type DT104. We describe the investigation of an outbreak of S. Typhimurium DT104A, a subtype never observed before in Italy, which occurred in Rome during spring 2004.We conducted a matched case control study between 24 July and 9 September 2004. Controls were matched for age and area of residence. Each case had between one and four controls. Odds of exposure to potential risk factors and vehicles for the outbreak were compared between cases and controls. A multivariate analysis was conducted to estimate adjusted Odds Ratios.Sixty-three cases of S. Typhimurium DT 104A infection with onset between 1 April and 5 May 2004 were identified. Sixty-one were residents of Rome and two were residents of a neighbouring region. Twenty-six cases (43%) were enrolled in the study. Their median age was 7.5 years. Fourteen of 26 cases and 16 of 62 controls had eaten pork salami (OR= 25.5; 95% CI 1.6- 416.8). No food samples were available for testing. In northern Italy, two months prior to the outbreak, the veterinary surveillance system identified the first isolation of S. Typhimurium DT104A in a pig isolate. Both human and pig isolates showed indistinguishable PFGE patterns. It was not possible to trace the pig after the sample was taken at slaughter. The epidemiological evidence on the implication of pork salami in this outbreak suggests that pork products can also be a vehicle for salmonella in Italy and underlines the importance of good manufacturing practices for ready-to-eat foods. This investigation highlights the value of laboratory-based surveillance in identifying community-wide outbreaks of uncommon pathogens. It also underlines the need to improve surveillance timeliness, for promptly detecting outbreaks, undergoing field investigation, and implementing control measures. Moreover, our study shows the usefulness of integrated human and animal surveillance in tracing the possible source of infection.

A Case-Crossover Analysis of Out-of-Hospital Coronary Deaths and Air Pollution in Rome, Italy

Out-of-hospital coronary heart disease death is a major public health problem, but the association with air pollution is not well understood. We evaluated the association between daily ambient air pollution levels (particle number concentration [PNC]--a proxy for ultrafine particles [diameter < 0.1 microm], mass of particles with diameter less than 10 microm [PM10]; CO, NO2, and O3) and the occurrence of fatal, nonhospitalized coronary events. Subjects were 5,144 out-of-hospital fatalities (410-414, International Classification of Diseases-9; 1998-2000) who had been residents of Rome. Hospitalizations during the 3 yr before death were considered to identify comorbidities (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, dysrhythmia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Statistical analyses were performed using a case-crossover design. The association with out-of-hospital coronary deaths was statistically significant for PNC, PM10, and CO. Air pollution on the day of death had the strongest effect (e.g., 7.6% increase [95% confidence interval, 2.0-13.6%]) for an interquartile range of PNC, 27,790 particles/cm3. The 65-74- and 75+-yr age groups were at higher risk than the 35-64-yr age group, and there was a suggestion of effect modification for people with hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Air pollutants originating from combustion processes, including ultrafine particles, are related to fatal, nonhospitalized coronary events. The effect is stronger among people over 65 years of age, but is not limited to a group with a specific comorbidity.

Rome and the Royal Society, 1660-1740

Most Fellows of The Royal Society in the late seventeenth century knew Rome through their classical education and would have been attracted to visit it for the remains of antiquity and for the new churches and palaces of the papal city. John Evelyn, in Rome 16 years before the foundation of the Society, John Ray, Edmond Halley and Robert Nelson, and Bishop Burnet and G.W. Leibniz, also met people who had links to the Accademia dei Lincei of Prince Federico Cesi, and to the later Accademia Fisica-mathematica associated with Queen Christina of Sweden. Besides astronomy, they were especially interested in cabinets of curiosities and in Vesuvius and other volcanic sites. They met English residents in Rome, especially those around the Venerable English College.

Multiethnic Rome: Toward residential segregation?

This research examines the presence of foreign national residents in Rome, through an examination of their distribution and localisation in different administrative districts. Since there is a close relationship between localisation and access to services, job opportunities, linguistic integration, and education, the residential patterns of migrant communities need to be explored in order to foster the process of ethnic integration. The 1998 census is used to analyze the presence of foreign nationals both in the districts and in the different urban zones of the Capital. For this reason it is possible to apply the index of segregation to 7 foreign national groups and then produce maps which detail where these groups are concentrated. The study also discusses public policy issues in order to improve the process of integration of different ethnic groups in Rome.

Mineral particles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF): an attempt at designing a quantitative model.

The author examined by morphology, chemical composition, and crystalline structure, approximately 2 500 mineral particles from bronchoalveolar lavage fluids obtained from 25 residents of Rome. In addition, the author obtained the same structural data for approximately 3000 inhalable particles present in the atmosphere in Rome. The author constructed a model of the concentration and granulometry of the different types of mineral particles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, by estimating the clearance times of the different particle classes. The author based the model on the following: (a) data relative to the inhalable particulate to which involved subjects were exposed, (b) updated knowledge about the processes of deposition and retention of the mineral particulate in the human respiratory tract, and (c) the hypothesis that the mineral particle pattern in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid reflects the pattern of particulate in lung parenchyma. Finally, the author compared the model with the particulate pattern observed in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples. Despite some drastic approximations, the model satisfactorily fits the data obtained from the experimental research on mineral particulate in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.

A 5-year (1989-1993) prospective study of the incidence of IDDM in Rome and the Lazio region in the age-group 0-14 years.

To provide data on the incidence of IDDM in Rome and the Lazio region evaluated prospectively from 1989 to 1993 for a total of > 5 million subjects younger than 15 years. All patients with newly discovered IDDM diagnosed between 1 January 1989 and 31 December 1993 among residents in Rome and its region were recorded. Primary ascertainment was based in diabetes clinics and specialized hospitals in the region, whereas the secondary independent source was taken from the archives of the region where patients are registered to obtain exemption from paying for medications. We identified 330 new patients with a degree of ascertainment of 85%. Overall the incidence rate of the disease was 7.9 per 100,000 per year (95% CI 7.1-8.8). The incidence was higher in the 5- to 9-year-old age-group (10.4 per 100,000) and in winter (36.2%). The cumulative risk for the disease is on the order of 1.18 per 1,000 subjects < 15 years of age. No significant differences in incidence were observed between boys and girls. There were 14 instances of coma at diagnosis (4.3%), but hyperglycemia without ketonuria was diagnosed in 35% of patients, suggesting an early diagnosis. Compared with the other continental Italian regions for which data are available for a single year, the IDDM incidence rate in Rome is similar. We conclude that the IDDM incidence rate in Rome and its region is comparable to that in other Southern European countries and remained stable over the 5-year observation period.

Coronary heart disease prevention: Relationship between socio-economic status and knowledge, motivation and behaviour in a free-living male, adult population

A questionnaire concerning knowledge, motivation and behaviour connected with coronary heart disease (CHD) prevention was administered to 6074 men aged 46 yrs, residents of Rome. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate whether differences exsisted between three socio-economic (SE) classes arbitrarily defined as medium-high (MH), intermediate (I), and medium-low (ML). Knowledge on CHD and its prevention was more satisfactory in the MH class than in the ML class. The same was observed for attitudes toward prevention (the MH class demonstrated more attention to prevention than ML class). Data were less straightforward for behaviour, which seemed to be dependent on both economic status and education. In fact the MH class claimed to smoke less than ML class, to spend more leisure time in physical activity and to check blood pressure and serum cholesterol more often. Their diets, however, were more expensive and rich than those of the ML class. By contrast the ML class, when compared to MH class, seemed to drink more alcoholic beverages and to be heavier, but they walked more and their diet resembled more closely the Mediterranean one. Altogether, in this study population, the highest social class seemed to be associated with better behaviours toward CHD prevention.

Book Reviews

THIS little volume must prove of practical value to a considerable class of people, that class which every year furnishes a large contingent of visitors to Italy and winter residents in Rome. Dr. Young has himself long resided in Italy, and has had ample opportunity of observing its climatal and sanitary conditions. He shows in his instructive book that Rome has got an undeservedly bad name for its climate, and the object of the volume is to show exactly what that climate is, under such heads as—the climate of Rome and its effects upon health and disease; the unhealthiness of Rome; Roman fever and malaria; water-supply of Rome; how to live in Rome class; of invalids likely to derive benefit from a residence in Rome, and so on.