498 Abstract Background: Synanthropic ants can transmit pathogens especially in hospital environments, but this fact had not been confirmed in Palaearctic region. This is the first study on confirming this ability of ants in this region. Methods: Three hospitals of Bandar Abbas, Iran have been selected for monthly sampling of ants in their various wards. The main processes on collected samples were washing out and culturing on various culture media. Results: As many as 250 individuals from 3 sub-families and 7 species of ants have been collected. Most of the collected species were from Formicinae sub-family. Paratrechina longicornis and Camponotus sp. were the most common species. At least 12 species of pathogens were found on ant species in the study. Conclusion: Environmental sanitation with emphasis on renewal of the hospital structures and informing the personnel about the ability of ants on transmission of pathogens are recommended for preventing the harmful impacts of ants. Copyright: 2017 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Shahi M, Davoodian P, Ansari M, Ghazi F, Akbarzadeh K. Synanthropic Ants as Vectors of Pathogens in Hospitals of Iran. Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 2017; 24(6): 498-504. JKMU Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 2017; 24(6): 498-504 Synanthropic Ants as Vectors of Pathogens in Hospitals of Iran Mehran Shahi, Ph.D. 1 , Parivash Davoodian, M.D. 2 , Maryam Ansari, B.Sc. 3 , Fereydoon Ghazi, B.Sc. 4 , Kamran Akbarzadeh, Ph.D. 5 1- Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan Heath Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran 2- Associate Professor, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan Heath Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran 3- Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran 4- Reference Laboratory, Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran 5- Assistant professor, Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding author; kakbarzadeh@tums.ac.ir) Received: 10 April, 2017 Accepted: 20 December, 2017 ARTICLE INFO Article type: Original article Keywords: Formicidae Ants Pathogens Hospitals Iran Introduction Currently, the number of ant species has increased to more than 14,000 around the world. It has been estimated that the true number of the ants in the world are about 30000 species. Due to huge variations in climatic, geological and altitudinal conditions in Iran, fauna of the country would be richer and more diverse. There are 148 ant species from 32 genera of ants in various parts of Iran (1, 2). Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are eusocial and comprise an important part of animal biomass (3). Ants with their diverse functions in ecosystems have various ecological roles which are almost useful (4). Some ant species can have