Medical Sciences Forum, Volume 13, Issue 1

In submitting conference proceedings to Medical Sciences Forum, the volume editors of the proceedings certify to the publisher that all papers published in this volume have been subjected to peer review administered by the volume editors [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic burdened the working and living conditions of seafaring personnel with particular challenges. The present study investigated the health and occupational burden of 301 multinational seafarers from merchant ships using self-admini...

On Merchant vessels, there is usually no physician on board. Health management there is a great challenge for the responsible nautical officers. To simplify health administration on board diverse electronic health modules including a medical logbook...

During SARS-CoV-2 pandemic irregular migrants coming by sea to Europe were required to observe a period of isolation or quarantine on-board dedicated ferry vessels, converted into protected isolation system according to Technical Guidelines written b...

The public health surveillance of yachts and pleasure boats is relevant to avoid and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. With the entry into force of the International Health Regulations 2005, the Ship Sanitation Exemption Certificate (SSEC) b...

Background: Being highly contagious through person-to-person transmission, COVID-19 can easily spread within multinational populations of ships and to land communities. The purpose of this study is to report on the prevalence of COVID-19 infections i...

The maritime industry has long been a significant mode of transportation. It is essential since it contributes to 80% of the global trade. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the maritime sector and its workforce. Many countries implemen...

Adequate medical facilities on passenger ships are essential to ensuring the quality of medical care and public health actions. Their design and construction is complex, as they have to comply with several regulations and recommendations from differe...

In March 2020, a ferry (Splendid G.N.V. Company, Italy) moored in the port of Genova (Northwest of Italy) was transformed into a medical care facility for COVID-19. The project intended to help infected patients that required low-intensity care, were...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union Joint Action HEALTHY GATEWAYS developed guidelines for cruise operators and authorities to restart operations and provide common COVID-19 public health preparedness and response standards. In F...

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many underlying issues regarding seafarers in the maritime industry, known as the “human element” at the International Maritime Organization. The challenges were a result of a global crew change crisis an...

The adverse impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced and magnified issues of sexual assault and harassment (SASH) with consequences on seafarers’ mental health and wellbeing which in turn negatively affects recruitment and attrition r...

The French and Italian Riviera are one of the most important areas in the world for yachting and cruise activity. Even though ports and airports of this area make up a single network, they insist on the territory of two different EU countries (Italy...

Throughout human history, human mobility between ports has been responsible for the transcontinental spread of vector-borne diseases such as the bubonic plague and vectors such as fleas, sandflies, and mosquitoes being transported even to small ocean...

Legionella is a public health concern on passenger ships and the the need to implement a Legionellosis prevention plan is even more important in on-board hospitals that are frequented by higher risk people who are more susceptible to infection. In th...

The aim of the study is to describe the routine inspections conducted by competent Public Health Authorities (PHAs) on board passenger ships (cruise ships, inland vessels or ferries) sailing in European countries during the EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS joint...

We analysed all proven cases of SARS-CoV-2 on sea-going vessels entering or present in the Port of Rotterdam to illustrate the burden of the corona pandemic on commercial shipping. We calculated the notification rate (NR) per arrival and attack rate...

Contingency planning is a vital component of robust national emergency preparedness. In Ireland, the Health Service Executive Port Health Network engaged with Dublin Port from July 2021 to develop Ireland’s first interoperable port health conti...

The coordination of public health events related to ships presents a challenge to the port health authorities, and communication means and routes are not well established. The EU Common Ship Sanitation Database provides a platform for port-to-port co...

The joint action EU HEALTHY GATEWAYS (EUHG) aimed to support cooperation and coordinated action of MS to improve their preparedness and response capacities at PoE, for preventing and combating cross-border health threats from the transport sector. Th...

Waterborne disease due to the microbial contamination of potable water onboard ships is a potential threat for seafarers. The results from the samples collected at Belgian ports from 2010 to 2018 during inspections of non-passenger ships are used to...

The association of cases of Legionnaires’ disease and ships has been well documented. Results from potable water samples collected for microbiological analysis during SSC inspections conducted from 2010 to 2018 at Belgian ports were analyzed in...

Within the framework of the interdisciplinary research project ARMIHN (Adaptive Resilience Management in the Port) a two-day large-scale exercise took place in the Port of Hamburg in October 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exercise could not...

In January 2019, complaints of an intermittent salty taste in drinking water were received from locations in close proximity to an international seaport. Preliminary testing indicated the presence of seawater within the potable water system. A multi-...

COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the intricate relationships between human health, the social-ecological system, and coastal management in an era of climate and global change [...]

Workers on board ships have a higher rate of mortality, injuries, and illnesses than their counterparts ashore due to their particularly risky working conditions [...]

The medical assistance to seafarers was not always improved in parallel with advances in medicine and telecommunications. Today technology offers systems including digital devices helping in collecting symptoms to be referred correctly to remote phys...

The ship is not only a workplace [...]

Spain is a country with an important flow of cruises in Europe. Since the restarting of cruise activity, 1,106 events with 12,134 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported from 21 ports. 72.3% of cases and 73.7% of events were registered in the Balea...

This study evaluated the usefulness and validity of wastewater SARS-CοV-2 monitoring in passenger ships. Wastewater grab samples (n = 54) were collected from seven cruise ships arriving at the port of Piraeus from June to November 2021. Sampl...

Soft power is a geopolitics concept that implies achieving what one wants through non-coercitive measures. In the context of ship sanitation, port health authorities can provide “hard” and coercitive mandates, and also non-coercitive reco...

Man-made vitreous fibers (MMVFs) are widely used in shipbuilding. Some MMVFs are “suspected of causing cancer” in Annex VI of Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 and can be easily found in ships (asbestos free or not ones). This study is an overvie...

Communicable diseases pose a significant threat for passenger vessels, as norovirus, influenza, food, waterborne diseases, and lately COVID-19 have caused several public health events. To manage the risks deriving from communicable diseases, this wor...

Transmission of infectious diseases on passenger ships is a well-known fact and efforts have been made to fight against it for years [...]