title: Plague in Iran: its history and current status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Plague remains a public health concern worldwide, particularly in old foci. Multiple epidemics of this disease have been recorded throughout the history of Iran. Despite the long-standing history of human plague in Iran, it remains difficult to obtain an accurate overview of the history and current status of plague in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this review, available data and reports on cases and outbreaks of human plague in the past and present in Iran and in neighboring countries were collected, and information was compiled regarding when, where, and how many cases occurred.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This paper considers the history of plague in Persia (the predecessor of today's Iran) and has a brief review of plague in countries in the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region, including a range of countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since Iran has experienced outbreaks of plague for several centuries, neighboring countries have reported the disease in recent years, the disease can be silent for decades, and the circulation ofYersinia pestishas been reported among rodents and dogs in western Iran, more attention should be paid to disease monitoring in areas with previously reported human cases and in high-risk regions with previous epizootic and enzootic activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.|National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia, and Q fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar-Ahang, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolrazagh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hashemi Shahraki
authors.affiliation: Yersinia Research Unit, National Reference Laboratory, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carniel
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.|National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia, and Q fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar-Ahang, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mostafavi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D019083:Mediterranean Region / Q000453:epidemiology; D019071:Persia / Q000453:epidemiology; D010930:Plague / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000266:history* / Q000662:veterinary; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: History of medicine; Iran; Middle East; Yersinia pestis