Avicenna Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infection
Volume:3 Issue: 2, May 2016

Context: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a serious worldwide health problem. The HCV infection prevalence rate has been estimated to be approximately 0.16% in the general Iranian population. In this review, the authors summarize various epidemiological studies of HCV infection in Isfahan, Iran.
Evidence Acquisition: Published studies were accessed from PubMed, Ovid, EMbase, Google Scholar, Iranmedex, Magiran, and the Scientific Information Database (SID), as well as from a manual search using references cited in relevant papers.
Twenty-eight studies, including 6, 17, 4, and 1, reported a prevalence of HCV in Isfahan province, and Isfahan, Kashan, and Foulad shahr cities. Sample sizes ranged from 73 to 542,705. The highest prevalence of HCV infection was reported in HIV-infected patients, and the lowest prevalence was found in laboratory workers.
The results of this study revealed the important role injection drug use plays as the main cause of HCV spread in Isfahan province. Effective harm reduction programs should be implemented to prevent new HCV infections. Considering the high prevalence of HCV infection among HIV patients, this group should receive special attention.

Diabetes is an alarmingly increasing public health concern. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, diabetes is highly prevalent in almost all regions of Pakistan, with an overall prevalence of 22.04% in urban and 17.15% in rural areas. In addition to lifestyle factors, genetics plays an important part in the progression to diabetes, of which peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs), a super-family of transcriptional regulators, are considered to be very critical.
The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of a missense mutation Pro115Gln in the PPARγ; gene in Pakistan and search for its effects on certain serum biochemical parameters.
A total of 1015 subjects (490 diabetics and 525 healthy controls) were genotyped by PCR-RFLP and serum profiling was performed.
We could not detect the mutation in the study subjects, but the anthropometric and biochemical parameters were significantly different between the cases and controls.
In conclusion, as this mutation is present in a highly conserved region and any change in this region would adversely affect the protein structure and function, so the prevalence of this mutation is very low.

Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium, which causes food poisoning. Spores enable the persistence of B. cereus in the environment, and B. cereus strains can tolerate adverse environmental conditions, such as temperature and insufficient nutrients. B. cereus causes food poisoning via the production of two enterotoxins. Most isolates produce toxins leading to diarrhea (enterotoxins) and vomiting (emetic forms). Diarrhea is caused by the production of three different heat-labile enterotoxins: HBL, NHE, and cytotoxin K. A heat-stable toxin, cereulide, is responsible for emesis.
This study aimed to detect enterotoxigenic B. cereus isolates in cheese samples using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Two-hundred pasteurized (n = 100) and nonpasteurized (n = 100) cheese samples were collected. The initial isolation was performed on PEMBA specific medium. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using several antibiotic disks, according to the guidelines of the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute. Specific primers amplifying the hblA enterotoxin-encoding gene and bal hemolysin-encoding gene were used for the molecular detection of the toxins.
Ten samples were positive for the presence of B. cereus, with both Gram staining and biochemical reactions. All the isolates were resistant to penicillin and ampicillin but susceptible to vancomycin, erythromycin, and ciprofloxacin. Six and three isolates were resistant to tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, respectively. The hblA and bal genes were amplified in all the B. cereus isolates.
The prevalence of B. cereus among the cheese samples was low. All the isolates were positive for genes encoding the hblA enterotoxin and bal toxin.

Resistance to clarithromycin in Helicobacter pylori has become one of the most important reasons for failure of antibiotic eradication therapies. This resistance is predominantly caused by point mutations in the peptidyl transferase region of 23S rRNA.
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the A2143G, A2144G, and A2143C point mutations among H. pylori strains from gastric biopsy specimens in Bushehr, in the southwest of Iran.
Patients and Gastric biopsy specimens were obtained from patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms during endoscopy. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) using oligonucleotide probes was applied to detect the point mutations responsible for clarithromycin resistance in H. pylori.
Of the 135 H. pylori-positive specimens, two harbored strains with the A2143G mutation and nine contained strains with the A2144G mutation. Thus, the prevalences of the A2143G and A2144G point mutations were 1.5% and 6.7%, respectively. The A2143C point mutation was not found.
The prevalences of the point mutations A2143G and A2144G were low in our geographic area. Based on the findings of this study, clarithromycin still seems to be a useful antibiotic for initial treatment regimens in Bushehr, Iran.

Bulinus truncatus is the intermediate host of Schistosoma haematobium, which is a causative agent of urinary schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that has been given high priority by the world health organization. Although schistosomiasis was eradicated from Iran decades ago, Bulinus truncatus has been reported in some regions of Khuzestan. In addition, in recent years, cases of urinary schistosomiasis have been described in Iran’s neighboring country Iraq. It is therefore possible that the disease may reemerge in the Khuzestan region in the future.
This study aimed to determine whether Bulinus truncatus is present in parts of Khuzestan province, Iran.
Using a hand net, samples were taken from irrigation canals in 27 locations in Khuzestan province during October 2015. The collected materials were placed in a plastic container. The samples were then washed on a mesh screen. The snails were separated and dried at room temperature. Identification was carried out according to the morphological characteristics of the shell. A descriptive data analysis was subsequently conducted.
Bulinus truncatus was detected in seven locations. In addition, Melanoides tuberculata, which is also considered medically important, and Physa acuta were detected. The prevalence of Bulinus truncatus, Melanoides tuberculata, and Physa acuta was 6%, 5.5%, and 88.5%, respectively.
Preventive measures to eliminate Bulinus truncatus should be applied in the Khuzestan region of Iran.