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Fluoride concentration in groundwater resources that used as the source of drinking water in urban areas of Iran was determined. All of the groundwater wells located in urban areas were monitored in 2008. Fluoride concentration of water samples was measured using SPADNS method. The nationwide mean fluoride concentration in the groundwater resources was found to be 0.47 +/- 0.28 (+/- standard deviation) mg/L. Only in Bushehr Province, the provincial mean fluoride level in the groundwater resources was higher than the WHO guideline value of 1.5 mg/L (1.86 +/- 0.86 mg/L). At nationwide level, the portion of extracted groundwater with fluoride concentration lower than the minimum permissible level of 0.5 mg/L, desirable fluoride range of 0.5-1.5 mg/L and elevated fluoride level was 69.2, 29.3 and 1.4%, respectively. In the areas with low fluoride content drinking water, it is recommended that fluoride is absorbed by use of high fluoride content foods and beverages. The recommendations for the circumstances with excessive fluoride content of drinking water are provision of drinking water from alternative sources and defluoridation of drinking water by point-of-use systems, respectively.

The effects of acute fluoride toxicity have been well documented in the literature. Drinking water is an important source of fluoride intake by humans, hence studies need to be carried out to determine the concentration of Fluoride in water. Therefore, this study tends to demonstrate the fluoride concentration in drinking water in thirty-one provinces of Iran during 2014. This cross-sectional study on drinking water was conducted in 2014. SPADNS method was determined for fluoride concentration examination according to instruction of Standard Methods. The minimum concentration of fluoride in provinces, such as Fars, Kermanshah, Kohgiluyeh and BoyerAhmad, Markazi, and Hormozgan, was observed to be 0.01 mg/L, while the maximum concentrations were observed to be 3.72 and 3.52 mg/L for Bushehr and Fars, respectively. The minimum and maximum average mean concentrations were 0.193 (SD = 0.11) and 0.889 (SD = 0.31) for Kermanshah and Bushehr, respectively. Due to the disadvantages of fluoride and because of the existence of different ecological conditions in Iran, there are different concentrations of water fluoride in the country. Therefore, proper policies should be made for water treatment plants based on the regional conditions in order to achieve a desirable fluoride concentration standard.

Background: Esfahan Province is considered as one of the main focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in Iran. Recently, ZCL distribution is expanding through this province leading to report of new cases in non-endemic areas. In the current study epidemiological aspects of ZCL has been investigated in Naein County in Esfahan Province. Methods: Adult sand flies were collected from beginning to the end of their seasonal activity. Rodents were caught by Sherman live traps once a month for one year. To active case detection, a hundred households in each selected village were visited in November and December 2016. Nested-PCR was employed to detect Leishmania parasite in the vector, reservoir and human. Results: Totally 1562 sand flies including Phlebotomus sergenti, Phlebotomus papatasi, Sergentomyia sintoni and Sergentomyia mervinae were collected and identified. No Leishmania infection was detected in the collected sand flies. All of the 30 collected rodents were identified as Rhombomys opimus, and of these 3.3% and 26.7% were infected by Leishmania major using microscopic and molecular technique respectively. Totally, 914 individuals were investigated and the ulcer and scar rates of ZCL calculated to be at 1.1 and 15.3 per 1000 population, respectively. Molecular results confirmed L. major infection in human and reservoir samples. Conclusion: It is concluded that ZCL is established in the area in low endemicity, and it is extrapolated the disease will not be a serious increasing health problem in the near future in this region.

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