Montarsi Fabrizio

Fabrizio Montarsi | IZSVe Role Biologist
Structure SCS3 – Diagnostics, Histopatology and Parassitology
Phone +39 049 8084380
E-mail fmontarsi@izsvenezie.it

Professional profile

Fabrizio Montarsi is currently executive biologist at the Laboratory  of Parasitology (SCS3 – Diagnostics, Histopatology and Parassitology) at the IZSVe as responsible of the Vector Unit.

He graduated in Biology at the University “La Sapienza” of Rome (Italy) and obtained a specialization in Microbiology and Virology at the University of Padua (Italy) in 2012. He has been researcher at Parasitology of the IZSVe from 2005 to 2014 first as scholarship and then as consultant. He is member of the “Veneto Region Arbovirosis Task Force, Venezia, Italy”, the Italian Society of Parasitology (SOIPA) and Italian Association for Forensic Entomology (GIEF).

Fabrizio Montarsi’s research interests include medical and veterinary entomology focusing on arthropods vectors of pathogens as mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies, etc. He is currently involved in the monitoring and surveillance of vector-borne pathogens projects in north-eastern Italy. In addition, he is in charge of identification and management of arthropods pests of stored food. He is a consultant (with institutional role) as a forensic entomologist (mainly in the veterinary field).

Since 2002, he has been in charge of the entomological surveillance and identification of Culicoides vectors of Bluetongue virus. Since 2009, he has been in charge of the entomological surveillance and identification of mosquitoes in regional and national plans for West Nile Disease. Since 2014 he has been undertaking monitoring of invasive mosquito species (Aedes albopictus Ae. koreicus and Ae. japonicus) for regional plans (Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Region) and “National Plan for prevention, surveillance and response to arbovirosis (PNA 2020-2025)”. In addition, he is currently involved in monitoring of ticks and sandflies for Local Health Unit projects and in projects of ECDC about mosquito control. Since 2020 he has been conducting experimental infection tests on vectors in the BSL3 laboratory.

Publications

  • Michelutti A, Toniolo F, Bertola M, Grillini M, Simonato G, Ravagnan S, Montarsi F. Occurrence of Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the northeastern plain of Italy. Parasit Vectors. 2021 Mar 18;14(1):164.
  • Calzolari M, Desiato R, Albieri A, Bellavia V, Bertola M, Bonilauri P, Callegari E, Canziani S, Lelli D, Mosca A, Mulatti P, Peletto S, Ravagnan S, Roberto P, Torri D, Pombi M, Di Luca M, Montarsi F. Mosquitoes of the Maculipennis complex in Northern Italy. Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 19;11(1):6421.
  • Fortuna C, Montarsi F, Severini F, Marsili G, Toma L, Amendola A, Bertola M, Michelutti A, Ravagnan S, Capelli G, Rezza G and Di Luca on behalf of the Working Group. The common European mosquitoes Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus are unable to transmit SARS‑CoV‑2 after a natural‑mimicking challenge with infected blood. Parasit Vectors. 2021, 14, 76.
  • Fornasiero D, Mazzucato M, Barbujani M, Montarsi F, Capelli G, Mulatti P. Inter-annual variability of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers affecting West Nile virus vector Culex pipiens population dynamics in northeastern Italy. Parasit Vectors. 2020 May 29;13(1):271.
  • Pacenti M, Sinigaglia A, Franchin E, Pagni S, Lavezzo E, Montarsi F, Capelli G, Barzon L. Human West Nile Virus Lineage 2 Infection: Epidemiological, Clinical, and Virological Findings. Viruses. 2020 Apr 18;12(4):458.
  • Montarsi F, Martini S, Michelutti A, Da Rold G, Mazzucato M, Qualizza D, Di Gennaro D, Di Fant M, Dal Pont M, Palei M, Capelli G. The invasive mosquito Aedes japonicus japonicus is spreading in northeastern Italy. Parasit Vectors. 2019 Mar 26;12(1):120.
  • Montarsi F, Drago A, Martini S, Calzolari M, Defilippo F, Bianchi A, Mazzucato M, Ciocchetta S, Arnoldi D Baldacchino, Rizzoli A, Capelli. Current distribution of the invasive mosquito species, Aedes koreicus [Hulecoeteomyia koreica] in northern Italy. Parasits Vectors, 2015. 8(1):614
  • Calzolari M, Pautasso A, Montarsi F, Albieri A, Bellini R, Bonilauri P, et al. West Nile Virus Surveillance in 2013 via Mosquito Screening in Northern Italy and the Influence of Weather on Virus Circulation. PLoS ONE, 2015. 10(10): e0140915
  • Montarsi F, Ciocchetta S, Devine G, Ravagnan S, Mutinelli F, Frangipane di Regalbono A, Otranto D, Capelli G. Development of Dirofilaria immitis within the mosquito Aedes (Finlaya) koreicus, a new invasive species for Europe. Parasit Vectors, 2015. Mar 23;8:177
  • Montarsi F, Mazzon L, Cazzin S, Ciocchetta S, Capelli G. Seasonal and Daily Activity Patterns of Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Vectors of Pathogens in Northeastern Italy. J. Med. Entomol, 2015. 52(1): 56–62
  • Otranto D, Dantas-Torres F, Giannelli A, Latrofa MS, Cascio A, Cazzin S, Ravagnan S, Montarsi F, Zanzani SA, Manfredi MT, Capelli G. Ticks infesting humans in Italy and associated pathogens. Parasit Vectors, 2014. Jul 14;7(1):328