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The ever-increasing emergence of Aedes albopictus as one of the most significant vectors of arboviruses like Zika, chikungunya, and dengue requires deeper studies in new areas using environmental factors. Almost 2 billion people in tropical and subtropical zones are exposed to the vector. Because of the vector’s tendency to reproduce in a variety of habitats, including urban, suburban, and rural areas, the species is spreading rapidly wherever a set of climatic factors is available. Iran as a country of diverse climates and biomes with more than 80 million population is highly prone to the disease. Hence, this study aims to monitor the risk probability of the mosquito’s presence according to the environmental parameters in Iran. In this research, we classified each parameter based on the appropriate conditions for the breeding and activity of the vector. To calculate the weight of each parameter, we applied analytical hierarchy process (AHP) as an expert-based decision-making method and risk map generated using spatial analysis. Finally, to classify the values of the risk map and finding the most important risk areas, we performed a grouping analysis. The result showed that 5 coastal counties in Guilan province in the north and 6 counties in Khuzestan province in the southwest of Iran were ranked first and second riskiest places, respectively. Due to the semi-tropical climate of the coastal areas, they record a suitable pattern of contributing parameters for the presence of the vector. These findings help for the public health policymakers to control the invasion of Aedes albopictus to estimate the related disease occurrence.

•We identified relapsing fever patients from southern Iran, where O. erraticusticks predominate.•Molecular characterization of the spirochete revealed the greatest identity with East African borreliae.•The IGS separated this Borreliaspecies from B. microtiand indeed other relapsing fever borreliae.•The spirochete identified in our study might represent an ecotype-adapted strain of B. duttonii.

ABSTRACTWe report a role for Borrelia microtias a cause of relapsing fever in Iran supported by robust epidemiological evidence. The molecular identity of this spirochete and its relation with other relapsing fever borreliae have, until now, been poorly delineated. We analyzed an isolate of B. microti, obtained from Ornithodoros erraticusticks, by sequencing four loci (16S rRNA, flaB, glpQ, intragenic spacer [IGS]) and comparing these sequences with those of other relapsing fever borreliae. Phylogenetic analysis using concatenated sequences of 16S rRNA, flaB, and glpQgrouped B. microtialongside three members of the African group, B. duttonii, B. recurrentis, and B. crocidurae, which are distinct from B. persica, the most prevalent established cause of tick-borne relapsing fever in Iran. The similarity values for 10 concatenated sequences totaling 2,437 nucleotides ranged from 92.11% to 99.84%, with the highest homologies being between B. duttoniiand B. microtiand between B. duttoniiand B. recurrentis. Furthermore, the more discriminatory IGS sequence analysis corroborated the close similarity (97.76% to 99.56%) between B. microtiand B. duttonii. These findings raise the possibility that both species may indeed be the same and further dispel the one-species, one-vector theory that has been the basis for classification of relapsing fever Borreliafor the last 100 years.

Tick-borne relapsing fever is an endemic disease in Iran, with most cases attributed to infection by Borrelia persica, which is transmitted by Ornithodoros tholozanisoft ticks. Here, we report spirochetemia in blood of a puppy residing in Tehran, Iran. The causative species was identified by use of highly discriminative IGS sequencing; the 489bp IGS sequence obtained in our study showed 99% identity (100% coverage) when compared with B. persicasequences derived from clinical cases or from O. tholozaniticks. Our IGS sequence also showed 99% similarity over 414bp (85% coverage) with a strain from a domestic dog, and 96% over 328bp (69% coverage) with a strain from a domestic cat. Pet-keeping in cosmopolitan cities like Tehran has become increasingly popular in recent years. Animals are often transported into the city in cages or cardboard boxes that might also harbor minute tick larvae and/or early stages of the nymphs bringing them into the urban environment. This may pose a threat to household members who buy and keep these puppies and as a result may come into close contact with infected ticks.

Borrelia persicaand B. microti/microti-like borreliae have been established as causative agents of relapsing fever in Iran. However, the epidemiology of previously described tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF) species Borrelia balthazardiand Borrelia latyschewii(latychevi) has remained elusive for many years. We investigated Borreliainfection in various rodents and small mammals in the TBRF endemic East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, where B. periscaand B. balthazardimight coexist. Among trapped rodents (n=210), a 16S real-time PCR detected BorreliaDNA in 11 Meriones persicus. Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) using six different loci, including four coding regions (flaB, glpQ, groEL, p66) and two non-coding (rrs, IGS) followed by phylogeny revealed considerable sequence identity between the borreliae detected, B. microti,and East African Borrelia duttonii, and Borrelia recurrentis. Our results indicate that B. microtiand microti-like borreliae, including the specimens characterized previously in the south of Iran and the present study, are different ecotypes of B. duttonii, i.e., a single species/entity or descendants of a recent common ancestor. Our findings also suggest that the species we had long coined as B. balthazardiand the microti-like spirochetes detected herein might be the same.

•The Ixodes ricinusis a highly prevalent tick species in the Caspian Sea littoral of Iran.•Ixodes ricinusticks had infections with Lyme borreliosis spirochetes or the relapsing fever Borrelia, B. miyamotoi.•A Borreliaidentified in Rhipicephalusticks shared the highest identity with an isolate infecting Haemaphysalis megaspinosaticks in Japan.•The BLAST and phylogenetic analysis suggest the range expansion of the European I. ricinus-associated borreliae into the north of Iran.

Two calcified objects recovered from a 3rd to 4th-century grave of an adolescent in Amiens (Northern France) were identified as probable hydatid cysts. By using thin-section petrographic techniques, probable Calodium hepaticum(syn. Capillaria hepatica) eggs were identified in the wall of the cysts. Human hepatic capillariosis has not been reported from archaeological material so far, but could be expected given the poor level of environmental hygiene prevalent in this period. Identification of tissue-dwelling parasites such as C. hepaticumin archaeological remains is particularly dependent on preservation conditions and taphonomic changes and should be interpreted with caution due to morphological similarities with Trichurissp. eggs.