Volume 37, no. 6, June 2024. Observatory for the development of a national strategy for the preventiion of drowning and bathing water accidents and recommendations. The 2024 Annual Training Plan of the ISS. Possible health risk associated to the presence of tetrodotoxins in Italy as a consequence of climate changes: first results obtained by the STOPTTX Project. RarISS Insert. Pietro Castelli, an excellent “simplicist”
Volume 37, no. 6, June 2024. Observatory for the development of a national strategy for the preventiion of drowning and bathing water accidents and recommendations. The 2024 Annual Training Plan of the ISS. Possible health risk associated to the presence of tetrodotoxins in Italy as a consequence of climate changes: first results obtained by the STOPTTX Project. RarISS Insert. Pietro Castelli, an excellent “simplicist”
Abstracts:
Observatory for the development of a national strategy for the preventiion of drowning and bathing water accidents and recommendations
The Observatory for the Development of a National Drowning Prevention Strategy in Italy has made recommendations for safe bathing waters. From 2003 to 2020, 6,994 people died from drowning, with an average of 389 deaths per year. The main causes include illness, rip currents, and uneven seabed. To prevent these accidents, the Observatory proposes risk management, public information, and surveillance measures. Particular attention is paid to the prevention of drowning among children and adolescents, with information campaigns, swimming lessons, and inter-institutional cooperation to improve the safety of bathing activities.
The 2024 Annual Training Plan of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS - the National Institute of Health in Italy
Annually, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) prepares the Annual Training Plan (Piano Formativo Annuale - PFA), in coordination with the ISS Training Service and the ISS Continuing Medical Education (CME) Committee support. PFA represents the result of significant planning work for training activities rooted in the skills and excellence of the ISS. Training activities, linked to the strategic objectives of the ISS three-year Activities Plan, aim to meet health workforce training needs and public health priorities. The 2024 PFA consists of 162 events (of which 67 within the CME accreditation), developed through different modalities (in-person, virtual, blended, hybrid and e-learning events). ECM accreditation is planned for 67 events.
Possible health risk associated to the presence of tetrodotoxins (TTX) in Italy as a consequence of climate changes: first results obtained by the STOPTTX Project
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin produced by marine microorganisms, responsible for fatal intoxications following the consumption of contaminated seafood in Asia. As a consequence of climate change, TTX has been detected also in Europe, where routine TTX monitoring in shellfish is not yet foreseen. A project financed by the Ministry of Health and coordinated by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale (IZS) delle Venezie, to which the Istituto Superiore di Sanità is collaborating, started in 2021. The project aims to understand the dynamics of TTX in edible bivalves, to develop tailored monitoring programmes, and to evaluate potential risks for consumer health. In the initial phase, the project detected a seasonal presence of TTX in bivalves from North Adriatic Sea, highlighting that 24% of positive samples exceeds the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) contamination limit proposed in 2017, whose validity was confirmed, based on a systematic review of the available literature. These results underline the importance of the project in proposing management measures, shared with stakeholders, to protect consumer health from exposure to TTX.
