First survey of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Borujerd county, western Islamic Republic of Iran.

Lorestan province in the Islamic Republic of Iran has not previously been known as a focus for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Clinical and epidemiological studies were carried out on patients diagnosed with active CL at the central laboratory in Borujerd city during 1998-2010. A total of 137 patients with corroborated CL were studied (mean estimated annual incidence 4.36 per 100 000 inhabitants). The male:female ratio was > 11:1. Patients ranged in age from 8-63 years but > 70% were aged 21-40 years and only 1 was < or = 10 years. The rate of CL was highest in rural residents (56.9%) and among those working as labourers (38.0%) and drivers (32.8%). The rate of active lesions on the upper limbs (69.3%) was significantly higher than other locations, and more cases were dry sores (57.7%) than wet sores (42.3%). The majority of patients (61.3%) had a single active lesion (mean 1.8 ulcers per patient). This is the first report of CL in the area.

First survey of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Borujerd county, western Islamic Republic of Iran

Lorestan province in the Islamic Republic of Iran has not previously been known as a focus for cutaneous leishmaniasis [CL]. Clinical and epidemiological studies were carried out on patients diagnosed with active CL at the central laboratory in Borujerd city during 1998-2010. A total of 137 patients with corroborated CL were studied [mean estimated annual incidence 4.36 per 100 000 inhabitants]. The male:female ratio was > 11:1. Patients ranged in age from 8-63 years but > 70% were aged 21-40 years and only 1 was </= 10 years. The rate of CL was highest in rural residents [56.9%] and among those working as labourers [38.0%] and drivers [32.8%]. The rate of active lesions on the upper limbs [69.3%] was significantly higher than other locations, and more cases were dry sores [57.7%] than wet sores [42.3%]. The majority of patients [61.3%] had a single active lesion [mean 1.8 ulcers per patient]. This is the first report of CL in the area

Human hydatidosis in Tehran, Iran: a retrospective epidemiological study of surgical cases between 1999 and 2009 at two university medical centers.

This study was conducted to evaluate retrospectively 203 patients diagnosed with hydatid cyst disease and treated surgically at two university medical centers between 1999 and 2009 in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) affected more females 117 (57.6%) than males 86 (42.4%). A remarkable gender difference skewed towards females was observed, and the male/female ratio among CE cases ≤20 and ≥61 years old was 1.18 and 0.52, respectively. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 82 years, and the age group 21-40 years (42.8%) was the most affected. A significantly higher number of hydatid cysts were recorded in the liver than in other sites (P<0.001), and more females had higher hepatic cysts (48.8%) than males (35.0%). The ratio of hepatic hydatidosis to pulmonary hydatidosis was about 11. There was a relative direct relationship between the ratio of liver to lung cases and age, and this ratio was significantly (P<0.01) higher in individuals >40 years of age (liver/lung ratio ≥43) than in those <40 years of age (liver/lung ratio 2.8-7.6). Unusual cyst locations in kidneys, brain and pelvic area, followed by spleen and spine was also observed. Single organ involvement was found in 95% of the patients, and was more common in females (55.2%) than in males (39.9%). Housewives had the highest rate of infection (53.5%) followed by labourers with 14.8%, which showed a significant difference (P<0.001). Similarly, urban dwellers was also over-represented among the cases (87% urban vs. 13% rural; P<0.001). In 69.5% of cases there was only one cyst, 16.3% had two cysts, 4.7% with three cysts, and 9.5% had four cysts or more. The results showed that further studies are needed to determine the prevalence, economic impact and risk factors of the disease in the area.

An abattoir-based study on the prevalence and economic losses due to cystic echinococcosis in slaughtered herbivores in Ahwaz, south-western Iran.

A 10-year (1998-2008) retrospective study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and long-term trend of hydatid disease in slaughtered herbivores in the large complex abattoir of Ahwaz (the capital of Khuzestan province, south-western Iran). A total of 3,583,417 animals including 2,815,982 sheep, 427,790 goats and 339,645 cattle were inspected macroscopically for hydatid cysts in the 10-year period, and overall 155,555 (4.24%) livers and 228,172 (6.37%) lungs were condemned. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) was responsible for 36.08% and 48.04% of total liver and lung condemnations, respectively. The prevalence of pulmonary hydatid disease in sheep, goats and cattle was 2.22, 5.43 and 6.99%, respectively; on the other hand, the prevalence of hepatic hydatid disease for those animals was 1.26, 2.57 and 2.80%, respectively. Data showed an overall downward long-term trend for CE in all livestock slaughtered during the study period (P < 0.01). Lung condemnation due to CE was significantly more common than liver condemnation for each animal separately (P < 0.001). The prevalence of liver and lung hydatidosis in sheep was significantly lower than that in other livestock (P < 0.001). The prevalence of hydatid disease recovered from the sheep, cattle and goats varied in different seasons, but there was no statistical difference between various seasons. The odds ratio of lung and liver condemnations due to hydatidosis showed a slightly different pattern in some years; however, the overall declining trend was still observed. The total annual economic loss incurred due to hydatidosis in all ruminants slaughtered at Ahwaz municipal abattoir was estimated to be US$459,659.6, based on the market prices in the year 2008. This number corresponds to a loss of US$300,620.4 for cattle, US$123,490.0 for sheep and US$35,549.2 for goats. The current results provide baseline data for the future monitoring of this potentially important disease in the region, and also suggest that a thorough investigation leading to a disease control strategy is required to reduce the economic and public health consequences of CE.

Human hydatidosis in Tehran, Iran: A retrospective epidemiological study of surgical cases between 1999 and 2009 at two university medical centers

This study was conducted to evaluate retrospectively 203 patients diagnosed with hydatid cyst disease and treated surgically at two university medical centers between 1999 and 2009 in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) affected more females 117 (57.6%) than males 86 (42.4%). A remarkable gender difference skewed towards females was observed, and the male/female ratio among CE cases 61 years old was 1.18 and 0.52, respectively. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 82 years, and the age group 21– 40 years (42.8%) was the most affected. A significantly higher number of hydatid cysts were recorded in the liver than in other sites (P40 years of age (liver/lung ratio >43) than in those <40 years of age (liver/lung ratio 2.8–7.6). Unusual cyst locations in kidneys, brain and pelvic area, followed by spleen and spine was also observed. Single organ involvement was found in 95% of the patients, and was more common in females (55.2%) than in males (39.9%). Housewives had the highest rate of infection (53.5%) followed by labourers with 14.8%, which showed a significant difference (P<0.001). Similarly, urban dwellers was also over-represented among the cases (87% urban vs. 13% rural; P<0.001). In 69.5% of cases there was only one cyst, 16.3% had two cysts, 4.7% with three cysts, and 9.5% had four cysts or more. The results showed that further studies are needed to determine the prevalence, economic impact and risk factors of the disease in the area.

A retrospective analysis of human cystic echinococcosis in Hamedan province, an endemic region of Iran.

In a retrospective investigation, the medical files of the patients who, between 1992 and 2006, underwent surgery for the treatment of cystic echinococcosis (CE) in one of the three university hospitals in Hamedan province, in western Iran, were explored. Of the 179 patients involved, 44.1% were male and 55.9% female, giving a male/ female ratio of 0.79. The mean annual surgical incidence of CE in the catchment areas of the study hospitals was estimated to be 1.33 cases/100,000. Although most of Hamedan's population is urban (53.02% at the last census, in 1997), most (57.5%) of the patients lived in rural areas (P<0.05). Among the CE cases, housewives (47.3%), farmers (16.6%) and labourers (16.0%) were over-represented compared with the frequencies of these occupations in the general population of the region (P<0.05 for each). Most of the CE cases were aged 20-39 years (35.8%) or 40-59 years (29.0%) and most had liver cysts, either alone (60.9%) or with cysts in other sites (9.5%), although 19.6% of the cases appeared only to have lung cysts. Overall, 90.5% of the cases showed single-organ involvement. Liver involvement was 3.3-fold more common than lung involvement, the ratio between cases with liver cysts and those with lung cysts generally increasing with age (from 1.6 for the cases aged <20 years to 5.6 among the cases aged 40-59 years). The most common clinical symptoms were abdominal pain and/or a sensation of abdominal mass in those with hepatic CE, and chest pain, cough, dyspnoea and/or haemoptysis in those with pulmonary CE. Although 72% of the cases each had a single cyst, 19.6% had two cysts each and 8.4% each had at least three cysts. Only three (1.7%) of the cases had had previous surgery for CE. Diagnosis of CE in Hamedan province is largely dependent on ultrasonography and computed tomography. Together, these results confirm that CE is endemic in the province and indicate that certain occupations (housewife, farmer and labourer) and/or rural life are risk factors.

Hydatidosis in camels (Camelus dromedarius) and their potential role in the epidemiology of Echinococcus granulosus in Iran.

Hydatid cysts were recovered from 35.2% (233/661) of camels (Camelus dromedarius) slaughtered in five different regions of Iran. The degree of prevalence between males (34.4%) and females (36.6%) was not statistically significant. The highest rate of infection (59.3%) was found in the Isfahan region (in the central part of Iran) while the lowest (25.7%) was found in Kerman province. The organ distribution of cysts was 49.4% in lungs alone, 30.0% in both liver and lungs, 14.6% in liver only and 6.0% in other organs. Therefore, the lungs were the predominant sites of the hydatid cyst. The range in the number of cysts was 1-48 in infected animals. The majority of the camels had 1-5 cysts, with 21.9%, 11.6% and 5.6% of infected camels having 6-10, 11-20 and 21 or more cysts respectively. There was a direct relationship between the rate and intensity of infection and host age. The fertility rate of lung cysts (69.7%) was higher than that of liver cysts (58.7%) and other organs (50.0%) whilst the viability rate of protoscoleces of liver fertile cysts (80.3%) was significantly higher than that of lung cysts (55.8%) and other organs (57.1%). The role of camels in the epidemiology of Echinococcus granulosus in Iran is discussed.

Using morphometry of the larval rostellar hooks to distinguish Iranian strains of Echinococcus granulosus.

Human cystic echinococcosis is widely distributed throughout Iran, where sheep, cattle, goats, camels and other animals act as intermediate hosts. It appears that morphometry of the rostellar hooks on the protoscoleces of the causative parasite, Echinococcus granulosus, can be used to separate the strains or variants of the parasite to be found in humans and livestock in Iran. Multivariate statistical procedures, including principal-component analysis and discriminant-function analysis (DFA), were used to explore the morphometric data obtained from the larval hooks of Iranian samples of E. granulosus. Although five physical variables were initially considered, the results of the PCA indicated that just two factors (based on the length of hooks and number of hooks) accounted for 91.6% of the variance observed in the hook measurements. The results of the DFA allowed the correct classification of all the samples. The presence in Iran of the sheep and camel strains of the parasite was confirmed. The sheep strain was the most common variant encountered, being recovered from sheep, cattle, goats, humans and occasionally camels. Most of the metacestode samples from camels and a few of those from cattle (five of 30), sheep (one of 27) and humans (two of 23) were found to be of the camel strain. These results indicate that larval-hook morphology is a valid method for identifying E. granulosus strains in Iran, and one that is potentially useful for epidemiological studies.