The Status of Human and Animal Fascioliasis in Iran: A Narrative Review Article

BACKGROUND The public health importance of human fascioliasis has increased during last few decades due to the appearance of new emerging and re-emerging foci in many countries. Iran, as the most important focus of human disease in Asia, has been included among six countries known to have a serious problem with fascioliasis by WHO. Various aspects of the disease in Iran are discussed in this review. METHODS This narrative review covers all information about human and animal fascioliasis in Iran, which has been published in local and international journals from 1960 to 2014 using various databases including PubMed, SID, Google Scholar, Scopus, Science Direct. RESULTS During the period of the study the infection rates of 0.1% to 91.4% was noted in various livestock. Despite the higher infection rates of livestock in southern areas in past decades, human disease has been mostly encountered in northern Provinces especially in Guilan. Recent studies indicate noticeable decrease in prevalence rates of veterinary fascioliasis in Iran, however the prevalence rates of fascioliasis in livestock in northern Provinces of Guilan and Mazandaran seem to remain at a higher level in comparison to other parts. New foci of the disease have also been reported recently. CONCLUSION While the prevalence of animal fascioliasis has decreased during last decades, human fascioliasis emerged as a public health problem in the country. The validity of new foci of human fascioliasis needs complementary standard studies.