Prevalence of Leishmania species in rodents: A systematic review and meta-analysis in Iran

• Published in: Acta tropica Vol. 172; pp. 164 - 172
• Main Authors: Foroutan, Masoud, Khademvatan, Shahram, Majidiani, Hamidreza, Khalkhali, Hamidreza, Hedayati-Rad, Faezeh, Khashaveh, Shahla, Mohammadzadeh, Habib
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-08-2017
• Subjects: Animals; Gerbillinae; Iran; Iran - epidemiology; Leishmania - classification; Leishmania - isolation & purification; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous - epidemiology; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous - parasitology; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous - veterinary; Meta-analysis; Prevalence; Rodent; Rodent Diseases - epidemiology; Rodent Diseases - parasitology; Systematic review; Systematic review; Iran; Rodent; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 0001-706X; 1873-6254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.04.022

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•The prevalence and spatial distribution of Leishmania species in rodents of Iran were systematically reviewed.•The calculated weighted prevalence of Leishmania species in rodents was 23% (95% CI=18%–28%).•The highest and lowest prevalence of Leishmania species in rodent reservoir hosts was observed in North with 50% (95% CI=40%–61%) and in West with 11% (95% CI=5%–17%), respectively.
Leishmaniasis are diverse group of diseases caused by numerous species of genus Leishmania. Herein we have contrived a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of Leishmania species in rodents of Iran. For this purpose, following the general methodology recommended for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, six English databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Ovid, Web of Science and Google Scholar) and four Persian databases (Magiran, SID, Iran Doc and Iran Medex) were explored during January 1995 till June 2015. Papers were selected based on 8 pre-defined inclusion criteria. During the years, a total number of 4485 different rodents were captured; among which 1291 cases were Leishmania positive. The calculated weighted prevalence of Leishmania species in rodents was 23% (95% CI=18–28). Given geographical zones of Iran, the highest and lowest prevalence rate was belonged to North 50% (95% CI=40–61) and West 11% (95% CI=5–17), respectively. Rhombomys opimus (1766), Meriones lybicus (1258) and Tatera indica (488) were the three most abundant captured rodents, while the highest prevalence of Leishmania species was observed in Nesokia indica 48% (95% CI=42–54) and followed by R. opimus 39% (95% CI=30–47). Egger’s regression test was performed to detect publication bias, which revealed it may not have a significant influence on overall weighted prevalence estimate (P=0.317). Meta-regression analysis demonstrated that there is no significant relationship between overall prevalence with sample size (P=0.1) and year of publication (P=0.7). The results showed remarkable prevalence of Leishmania species in rodent reservoirs. In future, adopting a suitable strategy for control and combat with rodents is necessary.