Arthropod-borne and arthropod-related viruses in Iran and neighboring countries

Abstract

Arthropods are very significant for human and veterinary medicine and health because of the burden of diseases caused by the pathogens they transmit. Databases, including the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, CABI, Scientific Information Database, IranMedex and Magiran were searched to the end of December 2022 for publications concerning infections in Iran caused by arboviruses. Pertinent information was extracted and analyzed. Thirty-three viral infections occur in Iran, which are biologically or mechanically known or assumed to be transmitted by arthropods. Information about agents (viruses), distribution (in 31 Iranian provinces), hosts (human and animals) and known vectors in Iran was obtained for each disease. Also, a list of arboviruses was provided for the countries neighboring Iran, including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, which do not neighbor Iran but, like Iran, occur in the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region. This list includes 40 viruses which are not formally recorded in Iran. The viruses are members of 19 genera representing 14 families in which three, four, 20 and 29 viruses are sandfly-borne, biting midge-borne, mosquito-borne and tick-borne, respectively.