title: A description of parasites from Iranian snakes.
abstract: Little is known of the parasitic fauna of terrestrial snakes in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the parasitic infection rates of snakes in Iran. A total of 87 snakes belonging to eight different species, that were collected between May 2012 and September 2012 and died after the hold in captivity, under which they were kept for taking poisons, were examined for the presence of gastrointestinal and blood parasites. According to our study 12 different genera of endoparasites in 64 (73.56%) of 87 examined snakes were determined. Forty one snakes (47.12%) had gastrointestinal parasites. In prepared blood smears, it was found that in 23 (26.43%) of 87 examined snakes there are at least one hemoparasite. To our knowledge, these are the first data on the internal parasitic fauna of Iranian terrestrial snakes and our findings show a higher prevalence of these organisms among them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Karaj, Alborz, Iran; Departments of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: v.nasiri@rvsri.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nasiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Iraj
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mobedi
authors.affiliation: Departments of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolhossein
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Venomous Animals and Antivenom Production, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Karaj, Alborz, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas Zare
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Mirakabadi
authors.affiliation: Departments of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghaffarifar
authors.affiliation: Department of Venomous Animals and Antivenom Production, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Karaj, Alborz, Iran.
authors.forename: Shohreh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teymurzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Karaj, Alborz, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: Departments of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Karaj, Alborz, Iran.
authors.forename: Habibollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Paykari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000469:parasitology; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008168:Lung / Q000469:parasitology; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012911:Snakes / Q000469:parasitology*
keywords: Hemoparasites; Intestinal parasites; Iranian snakes; Parasitic fauna