Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases 2322-1984 11 2 2017 06 13 338 343 EN Mahsa Sadat Makki Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Gholamreza Mowlavi Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Farideh Shahbazi Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Reza Abai Department of Medical Entomology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Faezeh Najafi Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Bibi Razieh Hosseini-Farash Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Research Center for Skin Diseases and Cutaneous Leishmani¬asis, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran Salma Teimoori Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Centre of Excellence for Therapeutic Proteins and Antibody Engineering, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand Hamid Hasanpour Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Saied Reza Naddaf Department of Parasitology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran 2017 01 16 2017 01 16 Background: Hymenolepis diminuta is a cestod of rodents and rarely infects humans. Infection in humans is via ingestion of infected insects. This study was aimed to detect H. diminuta cysticercoids in red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum, and cockroaches originated from different regions of Iran. Methods: The red flour beetles and cockroaches were collected from local bakeries in five cities including Tehran, Ahvaz, Kazerun, and Sabzevar during 2010–2011. Some beetles and cockroaches were colonized in insectary and adults from F1 generation were fed on H. diminuta eggs. Both laboratory-infected and field-collected samples were dissected and examined for cysticercoids. Detection of H. diminuta DNA in T. castaneum beetles was performed by targeting a partial sequence of Ribosomal gene. Results: Except the beetles from Ahvaz, all specimens were negative for cysticercoid by microscopy. Of the four dissected beetles from Ahvaz, one harbored 12 cysticercoids. Also, 110 (52%) of laboratory-infected beetles showed infection with an average of 12–14 larvae. None of the cockroaches was infected. Two beetles from Ahvaz, includ­ing the remainder of the microscopic positive specimen, yielded the expected amplicon in PCR assay. The H. diminuta DNA sequences generated in this study were identical and matched 97–100% with similar sequences from GenBank database. Conclusion: Lack of infection in the majority of beetles may reflect a low rat infestation rate in those areas, alternatively, the examined specimens might not have been the representative samples of the T. castaneum populations. https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/view/595 https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/download/595/340