{"title":"Insights into parasites and COVID-19 co-infections in Iran: a systematic review.","authors":"Soheila Molaei, Shabnam Asfaram, Zahra Mashhadi, Behnam Mohammadi-Ghalehbin, Sohrab Iranpour","doi":"10.1093/trstmh/trae001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>It is well-documented that using immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids or cytokine blockers in treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases the risk of co-infections. Here we systematically summarized the cases of COVID-19-associated parasitic infections (CAPIs) in Iran.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>From 19 February 2020 to 10 May 2023, all studies on Iranian patients suffering from CAPIs were collected from several databases using a systematic search strategy.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 540 records, 11 studies remained for data extraction. In this research, most of the studies were related to Lophomonas and Toxoplasma. Of 411 cases of CAPIs, toxoplasmosis (385 [93.7%]) had the highest rate of infection among Iranian patients, followed by blastocystosis (15 [3.6%]), fascioliasis (4 [0.97%]), leishmaniasis (3 [0.7%]), lophomoniasis (3 [0.7%]) and strongyloidiasis (1 [0.2%]). In general, Blastocystis enhanced diarrhoea in patients with COVID-19. Lophomonas, Toxoplasma and Strongyloides increased the severity of COVID-19, but Fasciola decreased its intensity. Patients with a history of cutaneous leishmaniasis showed mild symptoms of COVID-19. Also, patients with a prior history of hydatid cysts were not affected by COVID-19.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Due to the similar symptoms of some parasitic diseases and COVID-19 and immunosuppressive treatment regimens in these patients that may cause the reactivation or recurrence of parasitic infections, early diagnosis and treatment are required.</p>","PeriodicalId":23218,"journal":{"name":"Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"350-358"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trae001","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: It is well-documented that using immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids or cytokine blockers in treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases the risk of co-infections. Here we systematically summarized the cases of COVID-19-associated parasitic infections (CAPIs) in Iran.
Methods: From 19 February 2020 to 10 May 2023, all studies on Iranian patients suffering from CAPIs were collected from several databases using a systematic search strategy.
Results: Of 540 records, 11 studies remained for data extraction. In this research, most of the studies were related to Lophomonas and Toxoplasma. Of 411 cases of CAPIs, toxoplasmosis (385 [93.7%]) had the highest rate of infection among Iranian patients, followed by blastocystosis (15 [3.6%]), fascioliasis (4 [0.97%]), leishmaniasis (3 [0.7%]), lophomoniasis (3 [0.7%]) and strongyloidiasis (1 [0.2%]). In general, Blastocystis enhanced diarrhoea in patients with COVID-19. Lophomonas, Toxoplasma and Strongyloides increased the severity of COVID-19, but Fasciola decreased its intensity. Patients with a history of cutaneous leishmaniasis showed mild symptoms of COVID-19. Also, patients with a prior history of hydatid cysts were not affected by COVID-19.
Conclusions: Due to the similar symptoms of some parasitic diseases and COVID-19 and immunosuppressive treatment regimens in these patients that may cause the reactivation or recurrence of parasitic infections, early diagnosis and treatment are required.
期刊介绍:
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene publishes authoritative and impactful original, peer-reviewed articles and reviews on all aspects of tropical medicine.