Claudia M. Trombetta

Influenza D virus (IDV) is a novel orthomyxovirus initially isolated from pigs exhibiting influenza-like disease in the USA. Since then, IDV has been detected worldwide in several host species, including livestock animals, whilst specific antibodies have been identified in humans, raising concerns about interspecies transmission and zoonotic risks. Few data regarding the seroprevalence of IDV in small ruminants have been available to date. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of antibodies against IDV in ovine serum samples in Sicily, Southern Italy. Six hundred serum samples, collected from dairy sheep herds located in Sicily in 2022, were tested by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and virus neutralization (VN) assays using reference strains, D/660 and D/OK, representative of two distinct IDV lineages circulating in Italy. Out of 600 tested samples, 168 (28.0%) tested positive to either IDV strain D/660 or D/OK or to both by HI whilst 378 (63.0%) tested positive to either IDV strain D/660 or D/OK or to both by VN. Overall, our findings demonstrate that IDV circulates in ovine dairy herds in Sicily. Since IDV seems to have a broad host range and it has zoonotic potential, it is important to collect epidemiological information on susceptible species.

Adolescence is a critical moment in life; people become individuals, create new relationships, develop social skills and learn behaviours that they will use for the rest of their lives. During this phase, adolescents establish patterns of behaviour that can protect their health. This study aims to 1. assess the presence of psychological disorders in adolescents of both genders, 2. determine their relation to socio-economic differences based on the Family Affluence Scale (FAS), and 3. assess trends from 2006 to 2018. Data were collected from the Italian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey given to a representative sample of Tuscan adolescents aged 11–15 years. Participants (n. 12,550) filled out questionnaires to assess whether psychological symptoms such as feeling low, irritability, nervousness, or sleeping difficulties manifested weekly or more often over the past six months. For the study we utilized a cross-sectional survey method and linear regression to examine the association between psychological symptoms (dependent variable measured on an interval scale (0–16)), gender and FAS. We conducted similar analyses using logistic regressions for each of the four symptoms. An increase in psychological symptoms in both genders was revealed between 2006 and 2018, with a statistically significant presence in females: 0.29 (95% Confidence Interval [CI], 0.17 to 0.41), 1.43 (95% CI, 1.37 to 1.48) and 1.43 (95% CI, 1.34 to 1.52) in low-, medium- and high-affluence families, respectively; whereas males presented 0.14 (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.27), 0.71 (95% CI, 0.65 to 0.77) and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.22 to 0.39), respectively. The probability of a predictive episode of psychological symptoms (feeling low, irritability, nervousness, sleeping difficulties) occurring weekly, or more, often was greatly increased in females of all socioeconomic classes. These findings suggest that the increase in psychological disorders in adolescents should be considered a public health problem and further investigated through longitudinal studies and continuous monitoring of health trends.