The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are highly endemic but patchily distributed among the 20 countries and almost 400 million people of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and disproportionately affect an estimated 65 million people living on less than US$2 per day. Egypt has the largest number of people living in poverty of any MENA nation, while Yemen has the highest prevalence...

The geographic distribution of Astragalus (Fabaceae) in Iran was analyzed using a database of 7606 georeferencedobservations. Astragalus occurs in all provinces of Iran, but 88% ofthe observations are in five provinces including Tehran, West-Azerbaijan, Esfahan, Kordestan, and Khorasan-e Razavi.Most species are rare and narrowly endemic: Thelargest distance between two observations of the same ...

Leishmaniasis is a highly diverse group of diseases caused by kinetoplastid of the genus Leishmania. These parasites are taxonomically diverse, with human pathogenic species separated into two subgenera according to their development site inside the alimentary tract of the sand fly insect vector. The disease encompasses a variable spectrum of clinical manifestations with tegumentary or visceral...

Schistosomiasis is an infectious disease affecting up to 300 million people worldwide [1]. Of the three main species of Schistosoma, S. mansoni has the broadest geographical distribution. It is endemic to portions of South America, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. S. haematobium is found mostly in North Africa, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East; S. japonicu...

BACKGROUND Burkholderia pseudomallei, the etiologic agent of melioidosis, is endemic to tropic regions, mainly in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Melioidosis occurs only sporadically in travellers returning from disease-endemic areas. Severe clinical disease is seen mostly in patients with alteration of immune status. In particular, pericardial effusion occurs in 1-3% of patients with me...

Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania and transmitted by sand flies from mammalian reservoirs to humans. In recent years, a northward spread of L. infantum from highly endemic Mediterranean countries into previously non-endemic Central European areas has been suspected based on presumed sporadic cases of autochthonous leishmaniasis. Here, we investigated whether sand flies...

paracobitis vignai is a nemacheilid loach endemic to the sistan basin. it occurs in helmand river and its related reservoirs in sistan-va-baluchistan province in southeastern iran and probably in afghanistan. this species is currently endangered due to habitat loss or degradation, damming and droughts. therefore, this paper reviews the available data on taxonomy and distribution of p. vignai , ...

Endemic Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is the most common paediatric malignancy in equatorial Africa and was originally shown to occur at high-incidence rates in regions where malaria transmission is holoendemic. New ecological models of malaria that are based on both parasite prevalence and disease have been described. In this study, we examined district level data collected from paediatric BL cases ...