Gabutti Giovanni, Rota Maria C, Guido Marcello, De Donno Antonella, Bella Antonino, Ciofi degli Atti Marta L, Crovari Pietro
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Hygiene and Occupational Health, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
BMC Public Health. 2008 Oct 27;8:372. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-8-372.
The epidemiological importance of varicella and zoster and the availability of an efficacious and safe vaccine have led to an important international debate regarding the suitability of mass vaccination. The objective of the study was to describe the epidemiology of varicella and zoster in Italy and to determine whether there have been changes with respect to observations provided by an analogous study conducted 8 years ago, in order to define the most appropriate vaccination strategy.
A number of data sources were evaluated, a cross-sectional population-based seroprevalence study was conducted on samples collected in 2004, and the results were compared with data obtained in 1996.
The data from active and passive surveillance systems confirm that varicella is a widespread infectious disease which mainly affects children. VZV seroprevalence did not substantially differ from that found in the previous study. The sero-epidemiological profile in Italy is different from that in other European countries. In particular, the percentage of susceptible adolescents is at least nearly twice as high as in other European countries and in the age group 20-39 yrs, approximately 9% of individuals are susceptible to VZV.
The results of this study can contribute to evaluating the options for varicella vaccination. It is possible that in a few years, in all Italian Regions, there will exist the conditions necessary for implementing a mass vaccination campaign and that the large-scale availability of MMRV tetravalent vaccines will facilitate mass vaccination.
水痘和带状疱疹的流行病学重要性以及有效且安全疫苗的可得性引发了一场关于大规模疫苗接种适用性的重要国际辩论。本研究的目的是描述意大利水痘和带状疱疹的流行病学情况，并确定与8年前进行的一项类似研究的观察结果相比是否有变化，以便确定最合适的疫苗接种策略。
评估了多个数据来源，对2004年收集的样本进行了一项基于人群的横断面血清流行率研究，并将结果与1996年获得的数据进行比较。
主动和被动监测系统的数据证实，水痘是一种广泛传播的传染病，主要影响儿童。水痘带状疱疹病毒（VZV）血清流行率与先前研究中的结果没有实质性差异。意大利的血清流行病学特征与其他欧洲国家不同。特别是，易感青少年的比例至少比其他欧洲国家高出近两倍，在20至39岁年龄组中，约9%的个体对VZV易感。
本研究结果有助于评估水痘疫苗接种的选择。几年内，意大利所有地区可能具备开展大规模疫苗接种运动的必要条件，并且MMRV四价疫苗的大规模可得性将促进大规模疫苗接种。
