No abstract

Malaria is one of the most important parasitic diseases worldwide, which is characterized by high morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate epidemiology of malaria in East Azerbaijan province, Iran, from 2001 to 2013. During 13 years, blood samples were taken from all suspected malaria cases using lancet and then peripheral blood smear was prepared using one blood drop. The smears were stained by Giemsa's stain and were examined under a light microscope with 1000X of magnification. All demographic variables and epidemiological recorded data were obtained from Health Center and were analyzed by SPSS v. 16 software using descriptive statistical tests. Total of 133 cases were fined to be infected by malaria in 13 years that the highest rate (54.13 %) was observed in Kaleybar county. One hundred and fifteen (86.46 %) and 18 (13.54 %) out of 133 infected individuals were male and female, respectively. Mean age of the infected people was 31.57 years. The most affected age group was 30-40 years. One hundred twenty seven (95.48 %) and 6 (4.52 %) cases were infected by Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum, respectively. Based on the findings of this study, the incidence of malaria has been declined continuously over the past decade in East Azerbaijan province, Iran.

No abstract

Echinococcus granulosus as an etiologic agent of hydatid cyst is one of the most important zoonotic helminthes in the world that causing enormous economic and health losses. The aim of this study was to evaluate genotype of E. granulosus isolated from sheep using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene and sequencing method in East Azerbaijan province, northwest of Iran. Nineteen sheep hydatid cyst samples were collected. Genomic DNA was extracted from protoscoleces using commercial DNA extraction kit. Mitochondrial cox1 region was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and all isolates were sequenced. Afterward, sequences were analyzed for determination of genotypes by related software. G1 (94.73 %) and G3 (5.27 %) genotypes were identified from the isolates which out of 19 hydatid cysts, 17 samples were G1B, 1 sample G1D and the other one had G3 genotype. Results of this study indicate that common sheep strain (G1); especially G1B is the dominant subtype of E. granulosus in East Azerbaijan province.