Forecasting head lice (Pediculidae: Pediculus humanus capitis) infestation incidence hotspots based on spatial correlation analysis in Northwest Iran

Vet World Vol.13 January-2020 Article-6

Research Article

Veterinary World, 13(1): 40-46

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2020.40-46

Davoud Adham¹, Eslam Moradi-Asl^1,2, Malek Abazari¹, Abedin Saghafipour³, and Parisa Alizadeh¹

1. Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.
2. Arthropod Borne Diseases Research Center, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.
3. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.

Background and Aim: Pediculus humanus capitis has been prevalent throughout the world, especially in developing countries among elementary students and societies with a weak socio-economic status. This study aimed to forecast head lice (Pediculidae: P. capitis) infestation incidence hotspots based on spatial correlation analysis in Ardabil Province, Northwest Iran.

Materials and Methods: In this retrospective analytical study, all cases of head lice infestations who were confirmed by Centers for Disease Control office have been studied from 2016 to 2018. Head lice infestation incidence hotspots in the province should be detected based on general G statistics in ArcMap GIS10.4.1. Furthermore, MaxEnt.3.3.3 model was used for modeling the high-risk areas.

Results: The prevalence rate of pediculosis was 14.90/100,000 populations. The general G statistics revealed that the head lice infestation in this study area has a high cluster pattern. The analysis showed that the Parsabad and Germi counties were identified as a head lice infestation incidence hotspots. Statistical and spatial analyses of head lice infestation incidence showed a significant positive correlation with head lice infestation incidence hotspots and the altitudes (15-500 m), annual temperature range (14-16.5°C), and slope and average diurnal temperature (12-18°C).

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the most ecologically suitable areas of head lice occurrence were identified in two hotspots (Parsabad and Germi) in the Northern areas of Ardabil Province (Parsabad and Germi counties); in the borderline of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Keywords: head lice infestation, Iran, Pediculus humanus capitis, spatial analysis.

Keywords: head lice infestation, Iran, Pediculus humanus capitis, spatial analysis.

How to cite this article: Adham D, Moradi-Asl E, Abazari M, Saghafipour A, Alizadeh P (2020) Forecasting head lice (Pediculidae: Pediculus humanus capitis) infestation incidence hotspots based on spatial correlation analysis in Northwest Iran, Veterinary World, 13(1): 40-46.

Received: 18-08-2019 Accepted: 03-12-2019 Published online: 06-01-2020

Corresponding author: Eslam Moradi-Asl E-mail: moradiasl83@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.40-46

Copyright: Adham, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.