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Background:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HB vaccination is an essential step in the prevention of the disease and its consequent complications.Objectives:Immune status of medical personnel in teaching hospitals of Khuzestan is not well known. Since these personnel are usually at risk of needle stick and other high-risk events, some challenges exist in infection control committee with regard to managing these events. This study was conducted to assess post-vaccination immunity status and non-response to HBV vaccine as well as its predictors among medical staff in a teaching hospital affiliated to Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS) in Ahvaz, southwest Iran.Patients and Methods:In this retrospective cross-sectional study, the medical staff of a teaching hospital was evaluated for their immune response against HBV and factors affecting it. The study conducted in Razi Hospital, Ahvaz City, southwest of Iran, in 2013. Demographical, clinical, and laboratory data registered in medical files of hospital staff were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 using chi-square and Fisher exact tests. Differences with P value < 0.05 were considered significant. To identify predictors for non-responders, we used odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).Results:Out of 239 participants, 43 (18 %) were men and 196 (82%) were women. Their mean age was 31.9 ± 18.1 years (range of 20 - 55 years). Fourteen (5.9%) participants were non-responders, 37 (15.5%) were poor responders, and 188 (78.6%) were good responders. The non-responders were older (> 50 years) than the responders (P = 0.0001), while the body mass index (BMI) was not significantly different (P = 0.37) between them. Diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR: 7.3, 95% CI, 1.3 - 41.7, P = 0.05), and using immunosuppressive drugs (ISD) (OR: 3.2, 95% CI, 1.1 - 11.5, P = 0.03) were two variables in association with non-response to HB vaccine.Conclusions:Non-response rate to HB vaccine in our study was approximately 6%. Age over 50 years, DM, and receiving immunosuppressive drugs may be considered as predictors for non-response to HB vaccine in medical staff.

Iran is considered as one of the malaria endemic countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) and is at risk due to neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistan in the east, and Iraq to the west. Therefore the aim of the present investigation is the evaluation of the trend of malaria distribution during the past decade (2001–2014) in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. In this retrospective cross-sectional investigation, blood samples were taken from all malaria suspicious cases who were referred to health centers across Khuzestan province. For each positive subject a questionnaire containing demographic information was filled out. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 18. From a total of 541 malaria confirmed cases, 498 (92.05%) were male and 43 (7.95%) were female. The highest number of infections was seen in 2001 with 161 (29.75%) cases and the lowest was in 2014 with 0 (0%). Also, Plasmodium vivax was identified as dominant species in 478 (88.35%) individuals and P. falciparum comprised 63 (11.65%). The highest infection rate was observed in non-Iranian populations with number 459 (84.85%) and imported cases 508 (93.90%). Also, the majority of subjects were over 15 years of age, 458 (84.65%). Due to proximity to endemic countries which has made the malaria campaign difficult, more effort is needed to control the infection in order to achieve malaria elimination.

Introduction: Malta fever and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever comprise a major public health problem in developing countries and is endemic in Iran. Aim of the research:To study sero-prevalence and risk factors of brucellosis and haemorrhagic fever in Slaughterhouse Staff in Ahvaz City, Iran; 2020. Material and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 104 slaughterhouse staff in Ahvaz. First, a questionnaire containing demographic information and other required information was filled in at the workplace; after that, 10 ml of blood was taken from each person. To diagnose anti-Brucella IgG antibodies, ELISA and IBL kits were used, and CISF was used to diagnose ELISA and specific IgG detection. Finally, the data were entered into SPSS software version 23, and the significance level of the tests was considered to be less than 0.05. Results: In this study, 14 subjects were not available and all were male. The sero-prevalence of Brucellosis and CCHF was 17% (17 people) and 7% (7 people), respectively. There was no significant difference between age factors, marital status, duration of employment, training, use of protective equipment, and type of job with prevalence rate of brucellosis and CCHF. Conclusions: It seems that in order to reduce the incidence of these diseases in slaughterhouse staff, we need to review the training programs as well as the type and manner of use of personal protective equipment because there is a significant difference in the prevalence of this disease among trained people and people using personal protective equipment compared to untrained people and people not using personal protective equipment. StreszczenieWprowadzenie: Gorączka maltańska oraz krymsko-kongijska gorączka krwotoczna (CCHF) stanowią znaczący problem dla zdrowia publicznego w krajach rozwijających się. W Iranie choroby te mają charakter endemiczny. Cel pracy: Analiza seroprewalencji i czynników ryzyka wystąpienia brucelozy i gorączki krwotocznej u pracowników ubojni w irańskim mieście Ahwaz w 2020 r. Materiał i metody: Opisowe badanie przekrojowe przeprowadzono w grupie 104 pracowników ubojni w mieście Ahwaz. W pierwszej kolejności pracownicy wypełniali w miejscu pracy kwestionariusz w celu zebrania danych demograficznych i innych niezbędnych informacji. Następnie od każdej osoby pobrano 10 ml krwi. Przeciwciała anty-Brucella IgG oznaczano za pomocą zestawów ELISA i IBL, a w diagnostyce ELISA i swoistej detekcji przeciwciał IgG wykorzystano CISF. Dane wprowadzono do oprogramowania SPSS w wersji 23. Poziom istotności statystycznej dla wyników ustalono jako p < 0,05. Wyniki: Grupa badana obejmowała wyłącznie mężczyzn. Dane dotyczące 14 osób nie były dostępne. Seroprewalencja brucelozy i CCHF wyniosła odpowiednio 17% (17 osób) i 7% (7 osób). Nie stwierdzono istotnej zależności pomiędzy wiekiem, stanem cywilnym, stażem pracy, poziomem przeszkolenia, stosowaniem środków ochrony i rodzajem wykonywanej pracy a częstością występowania brucelozy i CCHF.

The emergence of a highly pathogenic virus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) accounts for severe pneumonia throughout the world. More than 7 million world population have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the number of deaths is increasing every day. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 in hospitalized patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI). During an outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2, the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were collected from 909 hospitalized patients with severe pneumonia, including 517 (56.9%) males and 392 (43.1%) females. All the collected samples were from different cities of Khuzestan province from 19 February to- 27 March 2020. The RNA was extracted from samples and subjected to real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2. Simultaneously, the computerized tomography (CT) scan was tested for the presence of ground-glass opacity in the lung among the patients. Of the total number of 909 specimens, 328 (36.08%) cases, including 185 (20.35%) females and 143 (15.73%) males, were positive for the SARS-CoV-2 while, 581 (63.9%) cases, including 374 (41.14%) males and 207 (22.77%) were negative for the SARS-CoV-2 by real-time PCR (p=0.001).Four hundred sixteen (45.76%) cases were positive for ground-glass opacity in the lung by CT scan, while 328/909 (36.08%) trials proved positive for SARS-CoV-2 by the real-time PCR (p=0.003). In this study, 36.08% of patients were positive for SARS-CoV-2. Although the results of positive cases by CT scan showed higher than real-time PCR, screening the SARS-CoV-2 with a real-time PCR method is the first line of choice.