Rolling up the pieces of a puzzle: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Iran

Publication date: Available online 23 June 2017Source: Alexandria Journal of MedicineAuthor(s): Masoud Foroutan, Sahar Dalvand, Ahmad Daryani, Ehsan Ahmadpour, Hamidreza Majidiani, Shahram Khademvatan, Esmaeil AbbasiAbstractToxoplasmosis is a neglected parasitic disease with global distribution in warm-blooded vertebrates and high prevalence among different human societies. We contrived a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Iran. Following the general methodology recommended for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, four English and three Persian electronic databases were explored up to April 2016. Out of 105,139 examined samples of different hosts, the weighted overall prevalence was 37% (95% CI = 31–43). Due to the significant heterogeneity (I2 = 81.9%) the random-effects model was used. The pool estimated prevalence of toxoplasmosis in human intermediate hosts, animal intermediate hosts, and definitive hosts was 43% (95% CI = 38–47), 26 (95% CI = 17–35) and, 34% (95% CI = 22–46), respectively. Our results represent that regular inspection in food industries, improved screening programs using standard diagnostic assay as well as distinguishing toxoplasmosis condition in other zoonotic hosts are extremely recommended for better disease management in Iran.
Source: Alexandria Journal of Medicine - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research