The activity of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, the National Institute of Health in Italy) includes the surveillance of drug-resistant tuberculosis (the Italian multicenter study of anti-tuberculosis resistance), and the study of gene expression and drug activity towards "dormant" Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Other activities include the study of immunological and metabolic determinants for the identification of new targets for innovative therapies and / or vaccines in experimental animal models.
Another priority is represented by national and European epidemiological surveillance of legionellosis and by research projects, from diagnosis on environmental and human matrices to the genomic typing of Legionella pneumophila strains, to the study of aquatic microbiomes, disinfectant activities, and elaboration of guidelines.
