Although it has been difficult to prove the direct involvement of cockroaches (i.e. insects of the order Blattaria) in the transmission of pathogenic agents to humans, such insects often carry microorganisms that are important in nosocomial infections, and their medical importance in the spread of bacteria cannot be ruled out. In houses and institutions with poor standards of hygiene, heavy infestations with cockroaches, such as the peridomestic American cockroach (Periplaneta americana L.) and the domestic German cockroach (Blattella germanica L.), can occur. In the present study, cockroaches (126 B. germanica and 69 P. americana) were collected from four buildings (three public training hospitals and one house) in central Tehran, Iran. Each insect was processed, under sterile conditions, so that the bacteria on its external surfaces and in its alimentary tract and faecal pellets could be isolated and identified. The oldest and largest of the three hospitals sampled (a 1400-bed unit built 80 years ago) appeared to be the one most heavily infested with cockroaches, and cockroaches from this hospital accounted for most (65.4%) of the isolates of medically important bacteria made during the study. No significant difference was found between the percentages of P. americana and B. germanica carrying medically important bacteria (96.8% v. 93.6%; P>0.05). At least 25 different species of medically important bacteria were isolated and identified, and at least 22 were Gramnegative. The genus of enteric bacteria most frequently isolated from both cockroach species, at all four collection sites, was Klebsiella. The cockroaches from each hospital were much more likely to be found contaminated with medically important bacteria than those from the house. The hospital cockroaches were also more likely to be carrying medically important bacteria internally than externally (84.3% v. 64.1%; P<0.05). The implications of these and other recent results, for the control of cockroaches and nosocomial infections, are discussed.

The annual incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Iran rose by 43% over a five year period, from 2002 to 2006; most of these cases were caused by Leishmania major. Two complementary standard and nested polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) were used to detect parasites within their natural vector, Phlebotomus papatasi. Twelve different sand fly species were morphologically identified. The most abundant species (31.3%) was P. papatasi. Leptomonads were found in nine (2.4%) phlebotomines. Twenty (5.3%) sand fly species were found positive for Leishmania-genus DNA using standard PCR. The infection rate of this species was 5% and 7% by microscopic and molecular methods, respectively.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is the first and most important vector-borne zoonotic disease transmitted by sand flies in Iran. As a parasitic disease in the Old World, it is a complex zoonosis with multiple vertebrate hosts and arthropod vectors of pathogenic flagellate protozoan in the genus of Leishmania in different parts of its range. Phlebotomine sand flies are proven as vectors of this parasite which can be transmitted through the bite of an infected female sand fly distributed in almost all parts of Iran. This research performed on all CL patients as that were registered into special forms by physicians and experts during the study period 2006-2013 in the county town of Fasa, Iran. Data were analyzed by Chi square test using SPSS 17 statistics software. Overall, 1,908 patients (59.18 %) lived in rural and 1,316 (40.82 %) lived in urban areas. All ages were between 1 and C30 year. The most frequent age group was C20 years (54.6 %). Sex ratio of patients was almost 1:1 (1,561; 48.42 % male vs. 1,663; 51.58 % female). Most of them (66.84 %) had wet lesions and those with dry lesions were less frequent (33.16 %).There was a significant difference between the frequencies of these two groups (P \ 0.05). Hand ulcers were the most prevalent part of body (43.24 %). The highest prevalence rate (35.14 %) of lesions occurred in autumn. The unstable trend of this disease in different years and its relatively high disease burden affecting all age groups in Fasa with respect to other counties in Iran showed that it was most likely an endemic disease in this region.

Background: More than 1.2 million scorpion stings occur annually worldwide, particularly in tropical regions. In the absence of proper medical care, mortality due to venomous scorpion stings is an important public health issue. The aim of the present study is to explore the temporal trend of scorpionism with time series models and determine the effective factors on this event using regression models. Methods: A retrospective cross sectional study was conducted on 853 scorpion stung patients. They were referred to Haji-Abad Hospital of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS), south Iran, from May 2012 to July 2016. A linear model to describe and predict the monthly trend of scorpion sting cases is fit with autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model.

Background and Objectives:Obesity and overweight are major determinants of health and quality of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) has always encouraged its member states to carry out studies on the attributable burden of these diseases at the national level, and use the study as the best guide to direct the health system policy. This study was thus undertaken in order to determine the regional burden of non-communicable diseases due to obesity and overweight.Setting and Design:Counterfactual analysis of the death registration data in Markazi province of Iran was carried out.Materials and Methods:We calculated the Years of Life Lost (YLL) according to the WHO's comparative risk assessment approach. Moreover, the attributable burden of obesity and overweight was determined by multiplying the impact fraction of risk factors with the YLL of major diseases, and the counterfactual analysis method was used.Results:A total of 7,176 deaths were registered contributing to 252,214 YLL, due to premature mortality. The total YLL due to premature mortality among females and males were 102,245 and 149,969 years, respectively. The most important causes of the YLL were associated with obesity and overweight in cardiovascular diseases for females, and overweight in cardiovascular diseases for males (12,826, 8,755 and 7,375 years, respectively).Conclusion:In this study, the importance and necessity of the recognition of overweight and obesity as the major risk factors for non-communicable diseases was shown. Hence, it is necessary to develop and apply comprehensive interventions to reduce the effect of overweight and obesity, especially in females.

The essential oil of Syzygium aromaticum (clove EO) and its major ingredients, eugenol, possess many biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties. Therefore, they have been widely used in traditional and contemporary medicine. In this study, the ingredients of clove EO were identified using GC‐MS analysis. The antibacterial and leishmanicidal activities of the total essential oil and eugenol were also investigated. Eugenol (65.41%), trans‐caryophyllene (12.6%), eugenol acetate (9.85%), caryophyllene oxide (3.00%), and α‐humulene (1.73%) were identified as five major components of clove EO. Additionally, the obtained IC50s of clove EO, 177.66, 300.53, 362.94, and 248.08 μg/mL, against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, respectively, were lower than those of eugenol with IC50s of 320.80, 692.91, 591.82, and 445.87 μg/mL. However, this difference was not significant, except against E coli. Also, clove EO and eugenol showed proper leishmanicidal effects on promastigotes of Leishmania tropica (180.24 and 233.52 μg/mL) and Leishmania major (654.76 and 517.14 μg/mL). Furthermore, there was no significant statistical difference between the anti‐Leishmania effect of EO and eugenol. Clove EO and eugenol showed proper antibacterial and leishmanicidal activities. However, the use of clove EO is preferable than eugenol because of the lower cost and straightforward preparation process.

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Human malaria is the most important vector-borne infectious disease in Iran. It remains focally endemic being restricted to almost 20 counties in three oriental provinces. As a result of control measures applied since 1988, these counties appear to be on the verge of eliminating malaria. Malaria elimination strategy has thus become the new goal in Iran. Malaria due to Plasmodium vivax, whose transmission is particularly hard to interrupt, accounts for nearly 90% of the cases. This study was thus undertaken to show malaria elimination trend from a hypo-endemic unstable active focus in southern Iran and to examine the role of prevailing climatic factors. This focus is now under elimination phase (Stratum III or annual parasitic index <1/1000 person/year). All malaria-positive cases were identified with active and passive procedures from 2003 to 2011. Although all ages were infected, more than half of the patients were in the higher than 20-year age group and a clear majority (77%) of them identified in the warmer months (May-October) of the year were positive with P. vivax parasites. The rate of falciparum to mixed infections was highest (1%) in the penultimate year. Case finding was negatively related to precipitation rate both annually and over the 9-year period and positively to ambient temperature in each year. Despite progress in the scale-up of its elimination, transmission of malaria remains active. This should be tackled by proactive case detection in specific hotspots of the study focus.