ABSTRACT
Deficiency in knowledge about leptospirosis prevalence in Iran led us to clarify the prevalence of Leptospirosis and its diagnostic tests and increase global awareness of the diseases in this era via systematic review and Meta-analysis. A comprehensive search about the prevalence of Leptospirosis was done in PubMed, ISI Web of Sciences, Cochran Library, EMBAS, Scopus, Magiran, Iranmedex, Scientific Information Database (SID), and Google scholar from 1995 to 2013. Twenty two relevant papers were found and analyzed using R software and comprehensive meta-analysis software Biostat V2.0.
The meta-analysis findings demonstrated that the prevalence of Leptospirosis in Iran was 39% (95% Confidence Interval). Our analysis showed that the highest prevalence was observed in the province of Mazandaran (44%) (95% CI 27-61). While, interestingly, the lowest prevalence occurred in its neighboring province (Golestan, 34%) (95% CI 15-83). Further stratified analysis highlighted that farmers were a population at risk (65% (95% CI 74-57)) and that the disease is more prevalent in males (69% (95% CI 74-56)). Based on the information in the current study, we induced that Leptospirosis occurred highly in humid climate areas of northern Iran. Due to the lack of Leptospirosis specific clinical symptoms and differences in sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests, we recommend doing further comprehensive studies by reliable tests and establishing national and local controlling programs for public awareness and reduction of human exposure to infected animals and their tissue and fluids.
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