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Background: It is essential to control the microbiology of dental unit water lines (DUWs) to prevent the spread of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and associated oral diseases. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify the presence of NTM in the water of 112 DUWs from dental centers and 57 DUWs from individual dental offices in Tehran, Iran., Methods: A total of 169 water samples were collected from DUWs. After filtration through a 0.45 μm membrane, the samples were decontaminated with 0.005 % cetylpyridinium chloride and then cultured on two Lowenstein-Jensen media, incubated at 25 °C and 37 °C for 8 weeks. Positive cultures for mycobacteria were analyzed using phenotypic tests, and the NTM species were identified through 16S rDNA, rpoB, and hsp65 genes analysis. Drug resistance was also assessed., Results: Of the total isolates, 38 (34.5 %) were classified as slow-growing mycobacteria (SGM), while 72 (65.5 %) were categorized as rapid-growing mycobacteria (RGM). NTM isolates were identified using molecular tests, including M. chelonae, M. abscessus, M. lentiflavum, M. mucogenicum, M. fortuitum, M. kansasii, M. simiae, M. gordonae, M. conceptionense, M. phocaicum, M. porcinum, and M. aurum. The NTM counts ranged from 50 to >500 CFU/500 mL across these 188 samples, with a median of 350 CFU/500 mL. Additionally, we reported two cases of intraoral infection caused by M. abscessus and M. chelonae, where the source of infection was traced to NTM-contaminated DUWs., Conclusions: The study found that most DUWs contained water contaminated with NTM, posing a potential health risk to humans. This research underscores the necessity of stringent quality control and certification of DUW water, with particular emphasis on ensuring the absence of NTM., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this work, the antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation capability, and clonal relatedness of 50 A. baumannii isolates collected from three hospitals in Ardabil city, Iran, were evaluated. Antibiotic sensitivity and biofilm formation of isolates were determined by disk diffusion and microtiter-plate methods, respectively. Molecular typing of isolates was also performed using repetitive sequence-based PCR (REP-PCR). The majority of isolates were resistant to cephems, aminoglycosides, and carbapenems, with 80 % classified as multi-drug resistant (MDR). While, only isolates collected from blood and tracheal were resistant to colistin. Additionally, 42 isolates (84 %) had biofilm formation capability. According to rep-PCR results, 34 isolates showed similar banding patterns, while 16 isolates had unique banding patterns. Finally, based on the molecular analysis, there was a direct relationship between biofilm formation and the antibiotic resistance of isolates. In other words, MDR isolates had a higher ability to form biofilm., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Ticks play an important role in the transmission of parasitic diseases, especially pathogenic protozoa in canine hosts, and it is very important to determine the role and extent of their infection with these pathogens in order to determine important control strategies. This study assessed the molecular prevalence of three protozoan pathogens including Hepatozoon canis, Leishmania spp. and Babesia spp., in ticks using PCR. A total 300 stray dogs were investigated and 691 ticks (171 male, 377 female and 143 nymph) were detected directly from 45 infested dogs. Species, stage of growth, and gender were determined for each tick. DNA extracted from 224 ticks (26 male, 165 female and 33 nymph). The molecular presence of three protozoan pathogens including Hepatozoon spp. (18S rRNA gene), Leishmania infantum (kinetoplastid minicircle DNA) and Babesia spp. (ssrRNA gene) were investigated using PCR method. One species of ticks, Rhipicephalus sanguineus was identified. Two of the target pathogens, Hepatozoon spp. (7/83; 8.43 %) and Babesia spp. (1/83; 1.2 %), were detected by PCR method. Sequence analysis of the ssrRNA gene of detected Babesia spp. showed a close relationship to the deposited strains of Babesia vulpis in the gene bank. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to undertake a phylogenetic analysis of H. canis and Babesia spp. in stray dogs in Alborz province, Iran and the first report about molecular detection of Babesia vulpis from tick infesting dogs in Iran. According to the above results, it seems necessary to implement tick control programs in dogs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a re-emerging viral haemorrhagic fever causing outbreaks in Iran in the last 15 years. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the status of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) in ticks would be evaluated. PubMed, Google Scholar and Web of Science were searched for peer-reviewed original papers published between 2000 and 1 July 2022. We included papers that evaluated the prevalence of CCHFV in individual ticks using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The pooled prevalence of CCHFV was 6.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.5-7.9%), with heterogeneity (I 2  = 82.706; P < 0.0001). The prevalence of CCHFV was higher related to regions with above sea level of 1001-1500m (6.4%; 95% CI: 4.3-9.5%), an average temperature of ≤15 °C (8.3%; 95% CI: 5.6-12.0%), latitude of ≥36° (8.1%; 95% CI: 5.2-12.3%), an annual rainfall of 101-300 mm (9.8%; 95% CI: 6.1-15.4%) and humidity of ≥61% (10.2%; 95% CI: 5.1-19.3%). Due to the importance of CCHF, it is better to do new epidemiologic studies on ticks by related organizations and adjacent regions of some provinces in which human cases have been previously reported., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Brucella spp. are Gram-negative coccobacilli that may grow in different media and environmental conditions for extended periods of time. The survivals of these bacteria in the environment have an important impact on the epidemiology of brucellosis worldwide. The effect of climate on the incidence of certain zoonotic infectious diseases, (recently referred to as climate-sensitive zoonosis) is now well established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between the incidence of brucellosis and climatic parameters in Iran, an important endemic region for brucellosis with diverse climate. The information on the incidence of human brucellosis in different Iranian provinces for 2016 has been provided by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Iran. Annual meteorological data collected between 2015 and 2016 were obtained from the Iranian Meteorological organization (IMO). A regression analysis of the incidence of brucellosis was performed via STATA 14.0 and the heterogeneity among observations was determined via Cochrane's Q-test and I 2 statistic. If I 2 index was higher than 50%, heterogeneity was considered as considerable. The results of regression analyses revealed a negative significant association between mean ambient air temperature and brucellosis incidence (C = - 0.022, P value = 0.004). Likewise, a positive significant association was found between number of frosty days and brucellosis incidence (C = 0.002, p value = 0.003). Other metrological parameters showed no significant effect on the human brucellosis incidence. Although our results suggest a high degree of temperature sensitivity in regards to the brucellosis incidence in Iran, this study opens up prospects for further investigations regarding environmental conditions and climatic changes influencing the spatial distributions and seasonal/annual cycle of this zoonotic pathogen worldwide., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper. It is to specifically state that “No Competing interests are at stake and there is No Conflict of Interest” with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)