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Review
. 2021 Jan;50(1):69-82.
doi: 10.18502/ijph.v50i1.5073.

Spatial Distribution of Common Pathogenic Human Intestinal Protozoa in Iran: A Systematic Review

Mehdi Mohebali  1   2 , Hossein Keshavarz  1   2 , Mohammad Javad Abbaszadeh Afshar  2 , Ahmad Ali Hanafi-Bojd  3 , Gholamreza Hassanpour  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Spatial Distribution of Common Pathogenic Human Intestinal Protozoa in Iran: A Systematic Review

Mehdi Mohebali et al. Iran J Public Health. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Pathogenic intestinal protozoa are considered as a serious public health problem in developing countries. This study aimed to elucidate the overall prevalence and spatial distribution of three common human pathogenic intestinal protozoan infections in Iran.

Methods: Six English and Persian databases were explored for published papers on the prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, Giardia lamblia, and Cryptosporidium spp. in the general population of Iran from 2000 to 2015. All eligible data were collected using a pre-designed data extraction form, and the overall prevalence was estimated using a random-effects meta-analysis model. We used ArcMap for mapping the prevalence of the studied protozoa and clustering analysis.

Results: Altogether, 118 eligible papers from 24 provinces of Iran were included and analyzed. The weighted prevalence of E. histolytica/dispar, G. lamblia, and Cryptosporidium spp. infection among Iranian general population were calculated 1.3% (95% CI 1.1-1.5%), 10.6% (95% CI 9.6-11.5%) and 2% (95% CI 1.5-2.5%), respectively.

Conclusion: Our findings indicated human intestinal protozoan infections caused by E. histolytica/dispar, G. lamblia, and Cryptosporidium spp. have still public health importance in some parts of Iran.

Keywords: Human; Iran; Modeling; Pathogenic intestinal protozoa; Prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1:
Fig. 1:
PRISMA flow diagram
Fig. 2:
Fig. 2:
Pooled prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar infection in the Iranian general population at the provincial scale, 2000–2015
Fig. 3:
Fig. 3:
Pooled prevalence of Giardia lamblia infection in the Iranian general population at the provincial scale, 2000–2015
Fig. 4:
Fig. 4:
Pooled prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. infection in the Iranian general population at the provincial scale, 2000–2015
Fig. 5:
Fig. 5:
Moran scatterplot of Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, represents the distribution of local Moran’s I values, at the provincial scale, Iran, 2000–2015
Fig. 6:
Fig. 6:
Moran scatterplot of Giardia lamblia, represents the distribution of local Moran’s I values, at the provincial scale, Iran, 2000–2015
Fig. 7:
Fig. 7:
Moran scatterplot of Cryptosporidium spp., represents the distribution of local Moran’s I values, at the provincial scale, Iran, 2000–2015
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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