Small health issue for Tommaso Paradiso, dealing with a Toscana virus infection. The Roman singer-songwriter himself announced it on Instagram: «About ten days ago a sandfly (mor….his) decided to bite me transmitting the Toscana virus – he writes – I am recovering but not yet at my best. I am very sorry not to be able to attend the Rtl Power Hits and Radio Zeta future hits tomorrow and the day after. See you very soon, hugs to you all». Paradiso was therefore forced to cancel two summer events.
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What is the Toscana virus
Less known than other arboviruses, the Toscana virus is an arbovirus transmitted by sandflies. Small like gnats, these are insects black or brown in color and with an unusually silent flight. «The Toscana virus is an infection still little known to the general public, but far from new in Italy. It is transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies, and precisely between July and September we reach the period of greatest vector activity», says Fabrizio Pregliasco, director of the specialization school in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the State University of Milan. Specifying that historically August «is the month with the highest number of reports».
Symptoms
«In the vast majority of cases the infection goes unnoticed or causes fever, headache and general malaise. In a small proportion of people, however, the virus can reach the central nervous system and cause meningitis or meningoencephalitis, with very intense headache, neck stiffness, photophobia, nausea and vomiting». Cases observed also in summer 2026 «remind us that the Toscana virus must now be permanently included in the differential diagnosis of summer meningitis, especially in rural and Mediterranean areas. Alarmism should not be created: mortality is exceptional and in most cases the outcome is favorable. But it should not be underestimated either», recommends the virologist.
In summer 2026 «autochthonous cases have been reported in several Italian areas. In July, in Umbria, two people hospitalized in Città di Castello received a diagnosis of Toscana virus meningitis; both patients were in non-serious condition. In August, a case was reported in Marche, in the area of Tolentino and Abbadia di Fiastra, of a 50-year-old woman hospitalized for Toscana virus meningitis and subsequently discharged in improvement. A molecularly confirmed case was also published in Campania, concerning a young Hungarian traveler returning from Naples».
At the moment a precise national total for 2026 is not available: «The Higher Institute of Health has communicated that, as part of the review of publication methods and for the protection of personal data, the national dashboard does not show numbers related to Toscana virus and TBE. However, this limitation does not mean that the phenomenon is absent. A study on Italian surveillance has recorded 607 confirmed autochthonous neuro-invasive cases between 2016 and 2023», recalls Pregliasco.
August the month with the highest incidence
«In the two-year period 2022-2023 alone, cases were 276, with an incidence about 2.6 times higher than the period 2016-2021. August is historically the month with the highest number of reports and circulation can extend until September-October». There is no vaccine nor specific antiviral therapy. «Prevention therefore involves protection against sandflies: repellents, covering clothes especially in the evening hours and very fine mesh mosquito nets. We remind that it is not a meningitis normally transmitted from person to person: contagion occurs through the vector», emphasizes Pregliasco.
Pain and itching
The saliva of the insect that is inoculated at the moment it bites causes the appearance of small spots on the skin and induces irritation of the subcutaneous nerve endings which, depending on how they are “interpreted” by the brain, can be perceived as painful rather than itchy, or as a mix of pain, discomfort, itching, unease. The bite site generally does not swell, unless the person has a hypersensitivity to the insect’s saliva. The incubation period of the disease is usually 3-7 days, but can last up to 2 weeks and is related to the viral load of the infecting bite.
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