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HEALTH

Mosquitoes don’t transmit coronavirus, Italian study finds

Mosquito bites are one of the major downsides of summer in Italy, and there have been additional worries this year that they could also transmit the virus. But a new Italian study says that neither regular nor tiger mosquitos are able to carry it.

Published: 26 June 2020 10:27 CEST
Mosquitoes don't transmit coronavirus, Italian study finds
File photo of an Asian Tiger mosquito. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP
A new scientific study by Italy's national health institute ISS shows that mosquitoes are unable to transmit coronavirus to humans, the institute said in a statement on Thursday.
 
The World Health Organisation had already said there was no evidence that the virus could be transmitted by the blood-sucking insects, which spread dengue and other diseases when they bite humans.
 
In recent years there have been outbreaks of the Zika virus and West Nile fever detected in Italy, both of which were believed to have been spead by mosquitos.
 
 
So concerns were high that the same could happen with the new coronavirus.
 
But the latest study, performed in collaboration with IZSVe, a research organisation for animal health and food safety, revealed that neither the tiger mosquito or common mosquito could transmit SARS-CoV-2.
 
“The research showed that the virus, once given to the mosquito through a meal of infected blood, was not able to replicate,” ISS said in a statement,  ruled out the transmission of COVID-19 through mosquito bites.

Nonetheless the ISS advises people to take precautions against mosquitos, especially during the insects' peak activity at at sunrise and sunset. Its recommendations include:

  • Use repellent.
  • Wear long-sleeved shirts and long trousers.
  • Sleep in rooms with air-conditioning where possible and keep windows closed or screened.
  • Use mosquito nets.

 

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

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Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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