West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022
West Nile virus (WNV) has progressively endemized in large areas of continental Europe, and particularly in Northern Italy, in the Po River Valley. During summer season 2022, Italy experienced an unprecedented surge in incidence cases of WNV infections, including its main complications (West Nile fe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/7/12/404 |
| _version_ | 1827636736020185088 |
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| author | Matteo Riccò Alessandro Zaniboni Elia Satta Silvia Ranzieri Milena Pia Cerviere Federico Marchesi Simona Peruzzi |
| author_facet | Matteo Riccò Alessandro Zaniboni Elia Satta Silvia Ranzieri Milena Pia Cerviere Federico Marchesi Simona Peruzzi |
| author_sort | Matteo Riccò |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | West Nile virus (WNV) has progressively endemized in large areas of continental Europe, and particularly in Northern Italy, in the Po River Valley. During summer season 2022, Italy experienced an unprecedented surge in incidence cases of WNV infections, including its main complications (West Nile fever (WNF) and West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND)). As knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of medical professionals may be instrumental in guaranteeing a prompt diagnosis and an accurate management of incident cases, we performed a cross-sectional study specifically on a sample of Italian medical professionals (1 August 2022–10 September 2022; around 8800 potential recipients). From a total of 332 questionnaires (response rate of 3.8%), 254 participating medical professionals were eventually included in the analyses. Knowledge status of participants was unsatisfying, as most of them exhibited knowledge gaps on the actual epidemiology of WNV, with similar uncertainties on the clinical features of WNF and WNND. Moreover, most of participants substantially overlooked WNV as a human pathogen when compared to SARS-CoV-2, TB, and even HIV. Interestingly, only 65.4% of respondents were either favorable or highly favorable towards a hypothetical WNV vaccine. Overall, acknowledging a higher risk perception on WNV was associated with individual factors such as reporting a seniority ≥ 10 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.39, 95% Confidence interval [95%CI] 1.34 to 4.28), reporting a better knowledge score (aOR 2.92, 95%CI 1.60 to 5.30), having previously managed cases of WNV infections (aOR 3.65, 95%CI 1.14 to 14.20), being favorable towards a hypothetic vaccine (aOR 2.16, 95%CI 1.15 to 4.04), and perceiving WNV infections as potentially affecting daily activities (aOR 2.57, 95%CI 1.22 to 5.42). In summary, substantial knowledge gaps and the erratic risk perception collectively enlighten the importance and the urgency for appropriate information campaigns among medical professionals, and particularly among frontline personnel. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:46:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a2b0f38b963f4dcf85d066bbd5e51011 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2414-6366 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:46:54Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease |
| spelling | doaj.art-a2b0f38b963f4dcf85d066bbd5e510112023-11-24T18:27:59ZengMDPI AGTropical Medicine and Infectious Disease2414-63662022-11-0171240410.3390/tropicalmed7120404West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022Matteo Riccò0Alessandro Zaniboni1Elia Satta2Silvia Ranzieri3Milena Pia Cerviere4Federico Marchesi5Simona Peruzzi6Occupational Health and Safety Service on the Workplace/Servizio di Prevenzione e Sicurezza Ambienti di Lavoro (SPSAL), Department of Public Health, AUSL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42122 Reggio Emilia, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, ItalyUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, ItalyLaboratorio Analisi Chimico Cliniche e Microbiologiche, Ospedale Civile di Guastalla, AUSL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42016 Guastalla, ItalyWest Nile virus (WNV) has progressively endemized in large areas of continental Europe, and particularly in Northern Italy, in the Po River Valley. During summer season 2022, Italy experienced an unprecedented surge in incidence cases of WNV infections, including its main complications (West Nile fever (WNF) and West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND)). As knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of medical professionals may be instrumental in guaranteeing a prompt diagnosis and an accurate management of incident cases, we performed a cross-sectional study specifically on a sample of Italian medical professionals (1 August 2022–10 September 2022; around 8800 potential recipients). From a total of 332 questionnaires (response rate of 3.8%), 254 participating medical professionals were eventually included in the analyses. Knowledge status of participants was unsatisfying, as most of them exhibited knowledge gaps on the actual epidemiology of WNV, with similar uncertainties on the clinical features of WNF and WNND. Moreover, most of participants substantially overlooked WNV as a human pathogen when compared to SARS-CoV-2, TB, and even HIV. Interestingly, only 65.4% of respondents were either favorable or highly favorable towards a hypothetical WNV vaccine. Overall, acknowledging a higher risk perception on WNV was associated with individual factors such as reporting a seniority ≥ 10 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.39, 95% Confidence interval [95%CI] 1.34 to 4.28), reporting a better knowledge score (aOR 2.92, 95%CI 1.60 to 5.30), having previously managed cases of WNV infections (aOR 3.65, 95%CI 1.14 to 14.20), being favorable towards a hypothetic vaccine (aOR 2.16, 95%CI 1.15 to 4.04), and perceiving WNV infections as potentially affecting daily activities (aOR 2.57, 95%CI 1.22 to 5.42). In summary, substantial knowledge gaps and the erratic risk perception collectively enlighten the importance and the urgency for appropriate information campaigns among medical professionals, and particularly among frontline personnel.https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/7/12/404West Nile feverWest Nile virusknowledgerisk perception |
| spellingShingle | Matteo Riccò Alessandro Zaniboni Elia Satta Silvia Ranzieri Milena Pia Cerviere Federico Marchesi Simona Peruzzi West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022 Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease West Nile fever West Nile virus knowledge risk perception |
| title | West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022 |
| title_full | West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022 |
| title_fullStr | West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022 |
| title_full_unstemmed | West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022 |
| title_short | West Nile Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study on Italian Medical Professionals during Summer Season 2022 |
| title_sort | west nile virus infection a cross sectional study on italian medical professionals during summer season 2022 |
| topic | West Nile fever West Nile virus knowledge risk perception |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/7/12/404 |
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