Fimmg Lombardy, training project on anti-Herpes zoster vaccine in adults begins

2023-11-27 18:13:06

Provide doctors with the tools to optimize the vaccination path of their patients. With this objective, the Fimmg (Italian Federation of General Practitioners) Lombardy is promoting, starting tomorrow, 28 November, a training course for general practitioners on the topic of adult vaccination with particular reference to the anti-Herpes zoster disease also known as shingles. The project – explains a note – is structured according to the ‘Field training’ method and will be carried out through the participation of the general practitioners involved in working groups within their structures (professional practices), using their skills (clinical and healthcare activities in the field of local medicine affiliated with the National Health Service) with the aim of improving their professionalism so as to be able to apply, immediately, what they have learned in the exercise of their activities.

Tomorrow’s initial training event, which will be replicated in all provinces, will be followed by a phase of application of what has been learned, lasting 6 months. “In recent years – underlines Paola Pedrini, general secretary of Fimmg Lombardia – the scientific world agrees in considering vaccinations to be fundamental in adulthood, and in particular in the elderly, so much so that vaccination campaigns have been implemented in particular for flu and anti-pneumococcal. Supporting the constant growth of the vaccination culture of colleagues, which translates into the prevention of pathologies with significant repercussions on the health of the community and consequently on the sustainability of the system – he adds – means putting the role of the doctor back at the center and enhancing general medicine in the overall management of the vaccination strategy. No longer a simple executor of vaccinations, but a promoter, organizer and facilitator of the prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases in adults”.

In Herpes zoster infection – the note recalls – attention is paid in particular to elderly people and those with comorbidities, which can increase the risk of re-ignition of the latent Varicella zoster virus infection in the roots of the ganglia of the nervous system. The incidence of Herpes zoster increases considerably after the age of 50 and is higher in adults who have undergone a haematopoietic cell transplant and those diagnosed with cancer. For this reason, it appears important to protect those at high risk, due to age or fragility, as can happen for those who suffer from diabetes, are dealing with cancer, have chronic cardiac or respiratory problems or those who deal with rheumatological diseases.