World is still struggling with widespread dissemination and many unanswered questions about Coronavirus disease-19(COVID-19). Global efforts introduced several candidate vaccines against causing COVID-19, mostly requires require 2 doses of injections and some with about 90-95% efficacy. All strategies against the spread of infection are placed on breaking the chain of virus transmission though protective public health measures and mass vaccination, as yet. The current situation emphasis on the global need for carefully designed policies to maximize vaccine access and uptake. The risk compensation theory states that a drop in perceived risk caused by access to prevention measures may lead to an increase in risky behaviors. The current pandemic has faced people to the sense of risk compensation and behavior change in response to a perceived risk level. Risk compensation phenomenon may significantly defeat the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, especially if the vaccine is not very effective in real life or in high-risk populations. Acknowledging and be conscious of Peltzman risk compensation has crucial importance in counteracting and neutralizing the false complacency of community also lend more weight to public health efforts. The public health messages and practices should be clearly expressed, straightforward, reliable and applicable. It is important that as efforts made to encourage mass vaccination of population other NPIs needs to be re-established and implemented to ensuring strike the balance of learning to live with COVID-19 in parallel with daily activities and job tasks.

Background Francisella tularensis is the causative agent of tularemia in humans and a large number of animal species. Considering recent evidence of the circulation of this bacterium in different parts of Iran, especially in the western provinces, the aim of current study was to determine the tularemia seroprevalence in the human population living in Ilam Province. Methods In 2015, 360 serum samples were collected from five groups of people: ranchers ( n = 112), farmers ( n = 79), butchers and slaughterhouse workers ( n = 61), Nature Conservation Officers ( n = 34), and referents of medical diagnostic laboratories ( n = 74). These samples were tested for the presence of anti- F. tularensis IgG antibodies using the ELISA method. Results According to the ELISA manufacturer cutoffs, we found that 10 (2.78%) and 9 (2.5%) sera, respectively, were positive or borderline for F. tularensis IgG antibodies. The highest tularemia seroprevalence was observed among farmers (7.59%). Conclusions Our results strongly support the circulation of tularemia in Ilam Province. Because no human tularemia case has been reported so far in this province, we recommend specific education programs to increase knowledge of local health care professionals about this important zoonotic disease.

Background Q fever is a zoonotic disease of great public health importance in Iran. This disease is presented with high phase I antibody development in chronic and high phase II antibody in the acute form of illness. This study was conducted to evaluate the seroprevalence of Q fever among high-risk occupations in the Ilam province in Western Iran. Methods and findings In this cross-sectional study, 367 sera samples were collected from five groups comprised of animal husbandry workers, farmers, butchers, slaughterhouse workers, and park rangers. The collected sera were tested for IgG antibodies against Coxiella burnetii using ELISA. The seroprevalence of antibodies against C . burnetii in phase I and II was 24.38% and 26.37%, respectively (i.e., 32.42% overall). Low educational level, living in rural areas, keeping sheep/goats, ages older than 50 years, and a history of arthropod bites positively correlated with increased risk of Q fever infection. Animal husbandry workers (45.13%) were at higher risk of contracting Q fever compared with other occupations in the study (17.11%). Conclusions High seroprevalence of C . burnetii among high-risk occupations is a serious challenge in the Ilam province. In addition, the high seroprevalence of endemic Q fever in rural and nomadic areas and a higher concentration of occupations who are directly engaged with livestock demonstrate the critical need for preventive medicine education and training in regards to mitigating risk for disease contraction in susceptible groups.

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The aims of this study were to assess the health impact of PM on inhabitants and to investigate the trend of PM concentrations in Ilam, Iran, from 2012 to 2015. For these aims, daily average concentration of PM was obtained from continuous monitoring stations in the study area. Mortality and morbidity due to PM were assessed by AirQ software developed by World Health Organization (WHO). Based on the results, the annual mean concentrations of PM in all of years were more than WHO guideline and PM concentration had a decreasing trend in this study period. Total mortality attributed to PM was found to be 49 cases in 2012, 25 in 2013, and 33 in 2014. Hospital admission due to respiratory diseases was the most impact due to PM Increase in relative risk (RR) with every 10 μg/m increase in PM from 2012 to 2015 years for total mortality, respiratory disease hospitalization, and hospital admissions were 0.6, 0.8, and 0.9%, respectively. The results of this study indicated that air pollution is one of the major problems in this urban area and AirQ model as simple tool can help to design preventive and controlling programs in order to reduce human health effects of pollutants.

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Zoonotic parasitic diseases are a significant and widespread public health threat, globally. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of zoonotic parasites in slaughtered animals at industrial abattoir in Ilam Province, Western Iran. In the present descriptive and retrospective study, all records of abattoir were analyzed. It was conducted on 61,442 indigenous animals including 37167 sheep, 13421 goats and 10854 cattle. Overall, prevalence of parasitic infections was 8.69% in slaughtered animals in the region and prevalence of liver hydatidosis, lung hydatidosis, Fasciola hepatica and Dicrocoelium dendriticum was 3.18, 3.6, 1.06 and 0.6%, respectively. 0.22% prevalence was found for Cysticercus. Macroscopic cysts of Sarcocystis were not seen in slaughtered animals. The prevalent rate of parasites is 11.92, 10.10, 8.92 and 6.54% in summer, autumn, winter and spring, respectively. In conclusion, prevalence of zoonotic parasites in Ilam Region is considerable. It also imposes economic losses, resulting from the loss of livestock and their products. So control programs must be carried out to eliminate transmission in the region.

The current systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate the genotypic distribution of canine echinococcosis worldwide. Studies published from the inception until 21 May 2021 were screened, relevant articles were selected and the random-effect model was used to draw forest plots with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Totally, 44 articles were included, mostly examined dogs (37 records), followed by wolf (8 records), jackal (7 records), fox (3 records), pump fox (3 records) and coyote (1 record). Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (G1–G3) and G6/7 cluster of Echinococcus canadensis were the most common genotypes among canids. Most studies were conducted in Asia and Europe with 17 and 15 datasets, respectively. Exclusively, Iran possessed the highest number of studies (10 records). Meta-analysis showed that the pooled molecular prevalence of echinococcosis was 33.82% (95% CI 24.50–43.83%). Also, the highest and lowest prevalence of canine echinococcosis was calculated for South America (66.03%; 95% CI 25.67–95.85%) and Europe (19.01%; 95% CI 9.95–30.16%). Additionally, there were statistically significant differences between the global prevalence of echinococcosis in canines and publication year, continent, country, sample type, host and molecular test. These findings will elevate our knowledge on the poorly known canine echinococcosis worldwide.