March 2016 · Volume 5 · Issue 3 Page 585 International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology Janghorban R et al. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Mar;5(3):585-595 www.ijrcog.org pISSN 2320-1770 | eISSN 2320-1789 Review Article An overview on sexually transmitted infections in Iran Roksana Janghorban 1 *, Fatemeh Azarkish 2 INTRODUCTION Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections that are passed on from one person to another through sexual contact. STIs cause a large proportion of the global burden of ill-health, disability, and death. 1 It is estimated that more than 1 million people acquire one of the infections every day in 2013. 2 In 2008, the total incidence of four curable STIs – Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Syphilis and Trichomonas vaginalis- for the Eastern Mediaterranean region was estimated to be 26.4 million by the World Health Organization (WHO). 1 These infections are caused by over 30 bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens. 2 At first, this paper presents the status of STIs in Iran in the three groups of infections and then focuses on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. REVIEW OF LITERATURE This review was carried out in the period of 1977-2015 by searching in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of sciences, Google scholar using different combinations of following search terms including "STIs", "STDs", "Chlamydia trachomatis", "Neisseria gonorrhoeae", "Syphilis", "Trichomonas vaginalis", "HIV", "AIDS", "HPV", "HSV", "HBS", "Chancroid", "Iran", 1 Assistant Professor in Reproductive Health, Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 2 Assistant Professor in Reproductive Health, Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences, Iranshahr, Iran Received: 15 January 2016 Accepted: 08 February 2016 *Correspondence: Dr. Fatemeh Azarkish, E-mail: azarkish2005@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) cause a large proportion of the global burden of ill-health, disability, and death. This paper reviews the status of STIs in Iran in the three groups of infections are caused by bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens and then focuses on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This review was carried out in the period of 1977-2015 by searching in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of sciences, Google scholar, the Iranian databases such as MagIran, IranMedex and SID using relevant English and Persian key words. Articles, reports, fact sheets, and official publications of World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) of Iran were reviewed. Data on the prevalence of STIs in Iran is sparse with very limited generalizability to the general population. But studies show that these infections are concentrated in high risk sub-groups of the population. Iran has a low national HIV prevalence, but an increased prevalence among people who inject drugs, shifting the country from low prevalence to a concentrated prevalence. It seems that the more improvement of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs in Iran need to more attention toward controlling HIV/AIDS through sexual health, proper linkage among HIV/AIDS, STIs, and SRH programs, reduction of stigma and discrimination toward people living with HIV/AIDS, and increase to access at risk populations. Keywords: Sexually transmitted diseases, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, HIV DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20160557