Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022;15(4):294-310.
doi: 10.22037/ghfbb.v15i4.2475.

Subtype distribution of Blastocystis sp. isolated from humans in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Bahman Maleki  1 , Meysam Olfatifar  2 , Samira Dodangeh  3 , Nayebali Ahmadi  4 , Mohammad Gorgipour  1 , Ehsan Javanmard  5
Affiliations
Review

Subtype distribution of Blastocystis sp. isolated from humans in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Bahman Maleki et al. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2022.

Abstract

Aim: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the subtyped Blastocystis sp. isolated from humans in Iran.

Background: Blastocystis sp. is an anaerobic intestinal protozoan that infects humans as well as domestic and wild animals, i.e. mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and arthropods.

Methods: A comprehensive search for papers published before April 2022 was undertaken utilizing English and Persian databases. The following MeSH keywords were used in the electronic search: (Blastocystis sp.) AND (molecular OR subtype) AND (prevalence OR epidemiology) AND Iran. The quality of the included studies was evaluated. Thereafter, a random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence and odds ratios regarding the included studies.

Results: A total of 32 studies comprised of five case-control studies and 27 cross-sectional studies met the eligibility criteria. The overall pooled prevalence of subtyped Blastocystis sp. in Iran was estimated to be 10% (95% confidence interval: 6 to 15%). Eight subtypes of Blastocystis sp. (ST1- ST7 and ST9) were identified in our study, of which ST3 was the most common subtype (0.04); 0.02-0.07). The difference in subtypes between two case and control groups in reported studies was not significant, but the odds ratio of infection by ST3 (0.98; 95% CI, 0.30 to 3.20) was higher in cases.

Conclusion: The current systematic review showed that with the exception of ST8 and ST12, all human Blastocystis sp. subtypes reported in the world are found in different parts of Iran.

Keywords: Blastocystis; Iran; Meta-analysis; Subtype.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA chart describing the study design process
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot for a random effect meta-analysis of subtyped Blastocystis frequency isolated from human in Iran
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot for a random effect meta-analysis of subtyped Blastocystis frequency isolated from human in Iran according to geographic region
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot for a random effect meta-analysis of subtyped Blastocystis frequency isolated from human in Iran according to different climate zones
Figure 6
Figure 6
Forest plot for a random effect meta-analysis of subtyped Blastocystis frequency isolated from human in Iran according to participants
Figure 7
Figure 7
Publication bias calculated for cross-sectional studies using Funnel plot and dioplot
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alfellani MA, Stensvold CR, Vidal-Lapiedra A, Onuoha ESU, Fagbenro-Beyioku AF, Clark CG. Variable geographic distribution of Blastocystis subtypes and its potential implications. Acta Trop. 2013;126:11–8. - PubMed
    1. Maleki B, Dalimi A, Majidiani H, Badri M, Gorgipour M, Khorshidi A. Parasitic infections of wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Iran: a literature review. Infect Disord Drug Targets. 2020;20:585–97. - PubMed
    1. Casero RD, Mongi F, Sánchez A, Ramírez JD. Blastocystis and urticaria: examination of subtypes and morphotypes in an unusual clinical manifestation. Acta Trop. 2015;148:156–61. - PubMed
    1. Javanmard E, Niyyati M, Ghasemi E, Mirjalali H, Aghdaei HA, Zali MR. Impacts of human development index and climate conditions on prevalence of Blastocystis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta Trop. 2018;185:193–203. - PubMed
    1. Yoshikawa H, Iwamasa A. Human Blastocystis subtyping with subtype-specific primers developed from unique sequences of the SSU rRNA gene. Parasitol Int. 2016;65:785–91. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources