NUSANTARA BIOSCIENCE ISSN: 2087-3948 Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 143-147 E-ISSN: 2087-3956 November 2020 DOI: 10.13057/nusbiosci/n120209 Human myiasis survey in Ilam Province, Southwest of Iran MORTEZA AKBARI 1 , JAVAD RAFINEJAD 1 , AHMAD-ALI HANAFI-BOJD 1 , ALI ASHRAF AIVAZI 2 , AKBAR BIGLARIAN 3 , SORAYA SHEIKHI 1 , ZAHRA SHAVALI 1 , KAMRAN AKBARZADEH 1,♥ 1 Department of Medical Entomology & Vector Control, School of Public Health and National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Tehran, Iran. ♥ email: kamran.akbarzadeh@yahoo.com, akbari.morteza1@yahoo.com 2 Department of Public Health, School of Health, Ilam University of Medical Sciences. Ilam, Iran 3 Department of Biostatistics, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences. Tehran, Iran Manuscript received: 5 October 2020. Revision accepted: 19 October 2020. Abstract. Akbari M, Rafinejad J, Hanafi-Bojd AA, Aivazi AA, Biglarian A, Sheikhi S, Shavali Z, Akbarzadeh K. 2020. Human myiasis survey in Ilam Province, Southwest of Iran. Nusantara Bioscience 12: 143-147. Myiasis is the infestation of live human and vertebrate animals with dipterous larvae, which at least for a period. Ilam Province of Iran is one of the most important animal husbandry areas, especially nomadic, in Iran. The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of myiasis in shepherds in Ilam Province. A cross- sectional study was conducted among the shepherds in Ilam Province, western Iran. Out of the 11 counties in Ilam Province, 6 were randomly chosen from three different climates for this study. A questionnaire was used by a trained interviewer to obtain the information from subjects. The disease has been seen in spring, summer, and autumn seasons. About 94.1% of people have been infested at least once. Pharyngeal myiasis had the highest prevalence with 58.3%. Itchy, painful throat, sneeze, cough, and headache were common symptoms. About 85.1% of people described the symptoms of the disease as severe and very severe. About 75.4% stated that the duration of the disease was more than 5 days. According to the results of the study, it was found that the prevalence of myiasis among shepherds in the Ilam Province is high and it is necessary to take appropriate measures to control the disease and increase health literacy. Keywords: Flies, Iran, myiasis, surveys INTRODUCTION Non-biting flies may be medically important because of direct damage to the human or animal by attacking with the larval stage (more commonly known as maggots). Myiasis is defined as the infestation of tissues and organs of living or dead human and vertebrate, for a period due to the dipterous larvae invasion, feed on the host's dead or living tissue, liquid body substances, or ingested food (Ramana 2012). It can lead to severe injury, secondary infection, prolonged pain, tissue, and fluid loss, reduced fitness, and even death, especially if sensitive organs such as the nose, eyes, and ears are attacked by larvae (Ramana 2012). Myiasis has been defined by Zumpt and has been reported in various world regions (Smith 1973). It remains a neglected disease (Otranto and Stevens 2002), and in the vast majority of cases a self-limiting infection with minimal complications (McGraw and Turiansky 2008). The disease is more prevalent in areas where many people are engaged in animal husbandry. Myiasis is a common medical and veterinary problem in many tropic areas (Baskaran et al. 2007). Myiasis is considered an occupational disease among people who live near the livestock and affects mainly persons in rural areas such as butchers, shepherds, and farmers (Masoudi and Hosseini 2004). In the entomological method, myiasis classifies according to the type of host-parasite relationship. In this way, myiasis is divided into facultative, obligatory, and accidental forms (Ward 2008). Species of the fly are involved, and most vertebrate animals are susceptible to this disease. Although humans can suffer from myiasis, it is much more common in livestock and wildlife, and flies, especially in the obligatory form. The first report of myiasis in Iran, an ophthalmomyiasis in a woman in Tehran, was reported in1976 by Minar (Minar 1976) and up to 2017, about 81 cases of human myiasis have been reported (Hazratian et al. 2020). Human and animal myiasis is not defined in Iranian health and veterinary reporting systems (Alizadeh et al. 2014). Therefore the epidemiology of this disease in some parts of Iran is unclear but according to previous studies, the prevalence of the disease among shepherds and cattle breeders has been reported as very high (Salimi et al. 2010). Losses in livestock due to myiasis have been substantial. There have been $800 million in losses annually to cattlemen from the southern USA from Florida to California (Eldridge and Edman 2012). Although such an estimate has not been reported in Iran, the great economic damage caused by myiasis among domestic animals and disease in humans is apprehended posing to be a major threat to the livestock industry and the health system in Iran (Shoorijeh et al. 2011). More than 6,400 km 2 of the Ilam Province, about 31% of its territory, is covered with scattered to dense forests. Due to its geographical location, natural conditions, and the diversity of its habitats, Ilam Province is one of the most important animal husbandry areas, especially nomadic, in Iran. Based on the