Zahra Hosseini; Mostafa Salehi Vaziri; Sara Ahmadnia; Mohammad Reza Fakoorziba; Tahmineh Jalali; Zakkyeh Telmadarraiy; Mohammad Djaefar Moemenbellah-Fard
Abstract
Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a neglected tick-borne viral zoonotic disease. The aim was to detect CCHF virus (CCHFV) among wild ticks from Artiodactyla, Bos taurus, Ovis aries, and Capra hircus, in a previously declared CCHFV-free province of Kohgiluyeh Boyer-Ahmad, southwest ...
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Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a neglected tick-borne viral zoonotic disease. The aim was to detect CCHF virus (CCHFV) among wild ticks from Artiodactyla, Bos taurus, Ovis aries, and Capra hircus, in a previously declared CCHFV-free province of Kohgiluyeh Boyer-Ahmad, southwest Iran. Methods: From April to November 2015, hard ticks were collected in a cross-sectional study and checked by microscope for species identity from ungulates in 51 study villages. About 55% of the ticks were then subjected to reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect CCHFV genome. Results: Overall, 859 hard ticks were captured, from which 8 different species in two genera were identified. The genus Rhipicephalus was distributed in half (#26) of the study villages. It was the most frequent (≈60%) tick genus. Hyalomma anatolicum, H. asiaticum, H. excavatum, H. marginatum, H. scupense, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, R. turanicus, and R. bursa were identified on the ruminants. From 469 adult ticks subjected to RT-PCR, one (0.2%) tick, R. bursa, was positive with CCHFV genome. It was from a cold hardy highland village in Dena County. It had CCHFV RNA for the first time from this region. Conclusion: The detection of CCHF viral RNA in one hard tick species, R. bursa, was confirmed in the southwest of Iran, thus partially indicating CCHFV presence of ticks in this region.
Zahra Soltani; Mohammad Reza Fakoorziba; Mohammad Djafar Moemenbellah-Fard; Mohsen Kalantari; Mohsen Akbarpour; Hossein Faramarzi; Kourosh Azizi
Volume 3, Issue 4 , October 2015, , Pages 160-164
Abstract
Background: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in many parts of Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the fauna and some biologic factors of sand flies and detect CL vector(s) in Kharameh district which is one of the most important foci of the disease in Fars province, southern Iran. Methods: ...
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Background: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in many parts of Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the fauna and some biologic factors of sand flies and detect CL vector(s) in Kharameh district which is one of the most important foci of the disease in Fars province, southern Iran. Methods: To identify the fauna, a total of 1549 sand flies were collected from April 2014 to March 2015. To determine the monthly activity, sand flies were collected from indoor and outdoor areas of the lowland and the highland regions. Results: Ten species of phlebotomine (four Phlebotomus spp. And six Sergentomyia spp.) were identified and Phlebotomus papatasi was the dominant species (53.45%). To determine the sand flies naturally infected by Leishmania spp., 188 female sand flies (145 P. papatasi, 29 P. sergenti, and 14 P. alexandri) were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Two (13.16%) specimens of P. papatasi were found to be positive for Leishmania major. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first PCR detection of L. major within naturally infected P. Papatasis and fly as the main vector in this region of south Iran.
Mohammad Reza Fakoorziba; Mohammad Djaefar Moemenbellah-Fard; Kourosh Azizi; Heshmatollah Shekarpoor; Hamzeh Alipoor
Volume 2, Issue 1 , January 2014, , Pages 2-7
Abstract
Background: Medicinal plant extracts such as those obtained from Salvia species have a wide variety of chemical compounds in their essential oils. The repellency of a number of essential oils including those from the labiates like Salvia against several insect species including the common house flies ...
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Background: Medicinal plant extracts such as those obtained from Salvia species have a wide variety of chemical compounds in their essential oils. The repellency of a number of essential oils including those from the labiates like Salvia against several insect species including the common house flies is reported. Objective: The aim of this investigation was to find out the excito-repellency effects of Salvia sclarea L. (Lamiaceae) extracts against adult house flies, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae). Methods: Air-dried plant material from the aerial parts of S. sclarea was subjected to hydro-distillation in a Clevenger type glass apparatus model Soxhlet with acetone, benzene, petroleum ether, chloroform, and aqueous solvents. Only adult house flies were inserted into an exposure chamber and their behavior was monitored for feeding tendency, repellency rate and deterrence rate. Statistical analyses were carried out by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with computation of the significance of differences in the outcome of various treatments. Results: There were significant differences among most of the various extracts with their controls in the sequential effects of feeding (P=0.04), deterrent (P=0.023) and repellency (P=0.01) rates of house flies. The order of potency for various extracts with a concentration of 100 g/l was as follows: petroleum ether> benzene> water> acetone> chloroform. Conclusion: It is thus conceivable to search for native means of combating house flies by fractionating the active ingredients in the Clary sage in the light of its excito-repellency effects.
Kourosh Azizi; Mohammad Djaefar Moemenbellah-Fard; Mousa Khosravani-Shiri; Mohammad Reza Fakoorziba; Aboozar Soltani
Volume 2, Issue 1 , January 2014, , Pages 30-35
Abstract
Background: Human malaria remains a major malady in Eastern Iran. Vector control interventions such as indoor residual spraying are used to fight with the disease. This study was undertaken to determine the lethal and residual effects of three different pyrethroid insecticides on adult mosquitoes of ...
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Background: Human malaria remains a major malady in Eastern Iran. Vector control interventions such as indoor residual spraying are used to fight with the disease. This study was undertaken to determine the lethal and residual effects of three different pyrethroid insecticides on adult mosquitoes of Anopheles stephensi on different surfaces in Iran, as part of a national program to monitor insecticide resistance in endemic areas. Methods: Two main endemic foci were selected as collection sites. Wild adult females of An. stephensi (mysoriensis strain) from the first focus were subjected to standard susceptibility tests, using lambdacyhalothrin, deltamethrin and cyfluthrin insecticides within holding tubes according to the method proposed by WHO. In Kazerun, the residual effects of these compounds were examined by conical bioassay tests of An. stephensi (type strain) on plaster and cement walls. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test to determine the differences in susceptibility and residual effects of An. stephensi mosquitoes to these insecticides. Results: The susceptibility of females of An. stephensi to three concentrations of lambdacyhalothrin, deltamethrin and cyfluthrin insecticides culminated in full scale mortality at the highest diagnostic dose. The maximal residual time of these three insecticides on plaster and cement walls was estimated to be about three months. There was no significant difference in the mortalities of An. stephensi on different sprayed surfaces (P=0.653). Conclusion: All field-collected An. stephensi populations exhibit gross susceptibility to all diagnostic doses of the three evaluated insecticides. In endemic areas, lambdacyhalothrin reveals a slightly longer residual activity than the other two insecticides.
Mohammad Djaefar Moemenbellah-Fard; Mohammad Reza Fakoorziba; Kourosh Azizi; Mohsen Mohebbi-Nodezh
Volume 1, Issue 1 , July 2013, , Pages 41-47
Abstract
Background: The German cockroach, Blattella germanica L. (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae), has become resistant to many insecticides due to control failures in hospital and student dormitory settings of southern Iran. Objective: This study was thus designed to detect and monitor carbamate resistance in two ...
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Background: The German cockroach, Blattella germanica L. (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae), has become resistant to many insecticides due to control failures in hospital and student dormitory settings of southern Iran. Objective: This study was thus designed to detect and monitor carbamate resistance in two strains of German cockroach using lethal dose bioassay methods. Methods: Wild dormitory (D) and hospital (H) strains were collected. Adult males were subjected to the jar exposure procedure. A range of concentrations based on the world health organization (WHO) standard concentration of carbamate insecticides (carbaryl, bendiocarb, propoxur) were used. For each insecticide, four to seven different concentrations leading to >0% and propoxur > bendiocarb. The ratio of LD50 in H strain to that of D strain for bendiocarb was about twice that of the other two insecticides indicating that German cockroaches were most susceptible to bendiocarb under both environments. Conclusion: It is concluded that excessive reliance on carbaryl in both D and H settings has led to resistance.