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Background & Objectives: Diabetes mellitus contains a group of common metabolic disorders that induces problems in health status. Its prevalence is increasing in the world, due to increase the rate of obesity and decrease in physical activities. This study was done to evaluate incidence of diabetes and prevalence in rural areas of Kalaleh city(North of Iran).

 

Materials & Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study all persons over 30 years old were enrolled, according to diagnosis of diabetes before 2005 or diagnosis in the screening programs (with FPG>126 in two turns) in rural areas of Kalaleh during 2005-06. After collection of demographic data with questionnaires and laboratory findings, they were entered to computer with SPSS-15 software. Central and distributive indices and incidence & prevalence of diabetes were assumed according to the whole population.

 

Results: In this study, 394 cases were enrolled. Incidence and prevalence of diabetes was 0.6% and 1.13%, respectively. Mean age of cases was 51.61 years. Male to female ratio was 0.4. Mean BMI was 29.43 kg/m² and a significant difference was seen between two gender (P<0.05). Most of the cases were Turkmen (72.8%). Illiterates were the major group (77.2%) and 1.8% had diploma or higher educational levels.

 

Conclusion: Prevalence and incidence of diabetes was lower than the other area of Iran.

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Background and Objective: Animal biting is a very important threat for human health, due to the post-infections, such as rabies, which would be fatal. This Study was carried out to determine the epidemiological aspects of animal bites in Kalaleh district, North of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and cross sectional study, all cases with animal biting during 2003-05 which were reffred to Kalaleh, Maraveh- tappeh therapy centers in Golestan province North of Iran were considered as sujects of this epidemiological survey. Results: From the totally 3496 biting, during 3 years, 2477 cases (70.9%) were male and 1019 (29.1%) female. The Mean age of cases was 24.2±17.5 and age domain between 1 to 86 was variable. The biting incidence rate was increased during 3 years, as follow 2003, 2004 and 2005 were 745/100000, 787/100000 and 788/100000 respectively. Total incidence was 773/10000 during the 3 years, the most biting frequency belong to the students 1157 (37%). Lower limb was the most common site of biting 2344 (67%). Dog was the common animal in biting 3344 (95.6). Most biting happened in spring season 1042 (29.8%). 3151 cases (90.1%) were living in rural area. 3198 cases (91.5%) and 298 (98.5%) had complete and uncompleted vaccination respectively. Conclusion: According to the results from this survey, the rate of dog biting in Kalaleh district was more than the other region, therefore, it would be important that all concerning organizations interfere to prevent and control this health threat.

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Background and Objective:leishmaniasis is a Zoonotic disease that is transmited by sandfly to human. This study were carried out in order to demonstrate some ecological characters of leishmaniasis vectors in Kalaleh district, Golestan province ,Iran, during 2006-07. Materials and Methods: In present study 6 villages were selected. Sandfly were collected by sticky traps. 3 places were sampled in each village and in each places 20 traps were installed. After sampling collection, we used diagnostic criteria to identify the Sandflies, also confirmed human cases were recorded according to the months of identification. Results: 4900 sandflies were detected in 6 villages and 12 species of sandflies were identified, which including P.papatasi, P.mongolensis, P.caucasicus, P.caucasicus group, P.sergenti, P.alexandri, P.kazeroni, P.brevis, P.(adlerius) sp, S.sintoni, S.clydei, S.sogdiana). P.papatasi was predominant species in indoor places (46.1%) and S.sintoni was in outdoor places (36.7%). Sandflies activities extended from early May through mid October with two peaks in mid June and September. Human infection had a important peak in January. During the collection of sandflies, the species of P.alexandri, P.kazeroni, P.brevis, P.(Adlerius sp.), S.clydei and S.sogdiana were collected for the first time from this area. Conclusion: In this study, P.papatasi was the predominant species in this area. Sandflies second activity peak occured in September that is crucial for transmission of disease. The incubation period for this disease was four months.