Here’s what emerged from the study coordinated by the Bruno Kessler Foundation, the ISS and the Ministry of Health
In Italy the risk of Native Focolas of Dengue and Chikungunya It is real and growing, even outside the regions of the North and the Center where the cases have been concentrated so far in the last two years, from Lombardy to the Marche and the last in the Bolognese. To launch the alarm was a study coordinated by Bruno Kessler Foundationby the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) and the Ministry of Health, which has traced a detailed map of the potentially more exposed Italian areas.
Dengue and Chikungunya in Italy
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The analysiswhose results were published in the magazine Nature Communicationshe took into consideration the data relating to the outbreaks recorded in Italy between 2006 and 2023: 1,435 cases imported for the Dengue and 142 cases imported for Chikungunya, while the native contagues were 388 and 93 respectively. Imported infections, the experts underlined, mainly came from tropical and subtropical countries such as Thailand, India, Cuba, Brazil And Dominican Republic.
In the first six months of 2025 the surveillance system of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità had recorded 68 Cases of Dengue and 22 of Chikungunya in Italyall linked to travel abroad: the Dengue contagues were mostly contracted in the center and South America and in Southeast Asia, while those from Chikungunya come mainly from Madagascar, Sri Lanka and the Réunion island.
Compared to previous years, however, they were also reported Four imported cases of Zika virus12 autochthonous cases of mint encephalitis (TBE) and five cases of Tuscany Virus. Not only that: in this first part of the year, surveillance for the West Nile virus in the provinces of Oristano and Venicewhere the first evidence of his circulation between the mosquitoes emerged.
The collected data confirmed that The most favorable period to the broadcast goes from July to Septemberwhile in the southern regions of the country the season at risk can extend until November. If so far the experts have drawn a map of the historian, analyzing the environmental characteristics in which the so -called tiger mosquito seems to proliferate we have reached which to hypothesize in which Other areas of the country, the cases of Dengue and Chikungunya could increase over the next few years.
Dengue and Chikungunya in Italy, the areas where you pay attention
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The areas at greatest risk, according to experts, remain the urban suburbs and coastal areas along the entire peninsula, where the presence of theAedes Albopictus and favorable climatic conditions create An ideal habitat for the spread of viruses. Gianni Rezza, hygienist and former director of the prevention of the Ministry of Health, has invited the Italian health authorities and the citizens themselves to keep the attention high, following a few simple rules if you live or find yourself on vacation in the most at risk areas:
- Use repellents
- Wear from opaque clothes, especially at dawn and sunset
- install mosquito nets
- regularly empty the containers with stagnant water
- Treat manholes and grids with larvicides Starting from April
- Change the water in the bowls of animals
- Empty the inflatable swimming pools of children
The good news, explain the experts of the ISSis that in recent years the identified outbreaks have been contained quickly. With increasingly evident climate change, The risk of endemization of the tiger mosquito is more than concrete And this would lead viruses to be more stable over time, no longer just for a few weeks a year. Faced with this risk, one of the problems emerged over the years should be correct: the average delay in the diagnosis of the first casesan aspect that could compromise the timeliness of the response of the health authorities.
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