Background: Cockroaches are mechanical vectors of Escherichia coli, a key indicator of fecal contamination and anti­microbial resistance. Their presence in hospitals and households poses risks of healthcare‑associated and communi­ty‑acquired infections. However, no global quantitative prevalence estimate of E. coli in cockroaches is available. We systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed observational studies to estimate pooled global prevalence of E. coli in cockroaches and explore heterogeneity by site, species, and region.
Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase for observational studies report­ing E. coli prevalence in cockroaches (last search: January, 2026), without geographical or time restrictions. Pooled prevalence was estimated using a DerSimonian–Laird random‑effects model with Freeman‑Tukey double arcsine trans­formation. Subgroup analyses were predefined by sampling site, cockroach species and country. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I² statistic. The protocol was not registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO).
Results: The pooled global prevalence of E. coli colonization was 22.6%. In subgroup analyses, the highest and lowest prevalence of E. coli colonization were found in studies with external surface sampling (26.5%) and internal parts sam­pling (16.8%), respectively. The pooled prevalence of E. coli colonization in studies with American and German cock­roaches was 28.4% and 18.2 %, respectively. A significant difference was observed between these subsets of studies.
Conclusions: This meta‑analysis reveals a substantial prevalence of E. coli contamination in cockroaches, particularly on external surfaces, in Periplaneta americana and in hospital/household settings. Further research is needed to develop targeted interventions for reducing associated public health risks.

Background: Malaria, caused by Plasmodium parasites, is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected Anophe­les mosquitoes. Laboratory-reared Anopheles mosquitoes play a crucial role in advancing research aimed at eliminating malaria transmission, particularly zoonotic malaria caused by Plasmodium knowlesi in Malaysia. Anopheles cracens, an incriminated vector for P. knowlesi, remains relatively underexplored in laboratory-based vector research and still lacks a clearly defined optimal starvation duration for its blood feeding. This study assessed the length of starvation duration against the female mosquito feeding rate, in order to determine the optimal starvation duration.
Methods: The mosquitoes were subjected to various starvation durations (6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 hours) before blood feeding. All other key parameters were kept constant. For each starvation duration, 25 female An. cracens mosquitoes were exposed to the blood meal, and the experiment was repeated a total of three times (n= 75 for each starvation dura­tion).
Results: The results showed a positive association between starvation duration and feeding rate, with longer starvation durations leading to higher feeding rates. The 16-hour starvation group achieved the highest feeding rate at 68% (68–72%). However, no statistically significant differences were observed among the groups due to high variability in the data.
Conclusion: In conclusion, a positive trend between starvation duration and feeding success was observed. Further studies with larger sample sizes and controlled physiological states will enable more precise determination of the opti­mal starvation threshold and its influence on P. knowlesi infection rates under laboratory conditions.

Background: Leishmaniasis remains a major public health concern due to treatment toxicity, prolonged regimens and emerging drug resistance. Green-synthesized metal oxide nanoparticles are promising candidates for alternative an­tileishmanial therapies. This study synthesized copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) using hydroalcoholic Calotropis procera leaf extract and evaluated their in vitro activity against Leishmania tropica.
Methods: CuO NPs were synthesized using C. procera extract as a biological reducing and stabilizing agent and char­acterized by dynamic light scattering, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectros­copy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The antileishmanial activity of C. procera extract (CPE), CuO NPs, meglumine antimoniate (MA) and their combinations was assessed against promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes. Cytotoxicity was evaluated in THP-1-derived macrophages and selectivity indices (SI) were calculated. Apoptosis-related markers and oxidative stress parameters were also assessed.
Results: CuO NPs had a mean hydrodynamic diameter of 185.26±19 nm and a zeta potential of −15.93±2.6 mV. The CuO NPs+MA combination showed the strongest activity against amastigotes (IC₅₀= 52.19 µg/mL) and promastigotes (IC₅₀= 281.63 µg/mL), with a CC₅₀ of 603.1 µg/mL and the highest SI (11.56). Treatment increased Bax, caspase-3, caspase-8 and ROS levels while reducing Bcl-2, SOD and CAT.
Conclusion: Green-synthesized CuO NPs, particularly in combination with MA, demonstrated promising antileishma­nial activity and selectivity against L. tropica. These findings support further evaluation in vivo.

Background: Canine tick-borne diseases from Ehrlichia and Anaplasma pose rising veterinary and zoonotic risks. In Iran, data on their prevalence in dogs and ticks are scarce. This cross-sectional study examined molecular rates, phylo­genetic traits, and blood disorders in high-exposure dogs, aiming to clarify infection patterns and health consequences in this understudied region.
Methods: Blood samples and ticks were collected from 138 dogs in Tehran City, divided into 3 groups (tick-infested indoors, tick-infested outdoors and thrombocytopenics without ticks) and used for hematological/biochemical profiling, molecular detection and phylogenetic analysis targeting the 16S rRNA gene.
Results: The study found molecular prevalence of Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma platys at 21.7% and 11.6%, with out­door dogs highest; indoor dogs had no A. platys. Infection rates peaked in 1–3-year-old dogs. Rhipicephalus sanguineus was the sole tick collected. Thrombocytopenia signaled TBD exposure, prompting molecular screening. Phylogenetic 16S rRNA analysis confirmed genus identity and placed samples within global clusters, yet revealed no region-specific lineages due to gene conservation. Ehrlichiosis showed lower hematocrit, hemoglobin, neutrophils, and monocytes, with higher leukocytes and lymphocytes versus anaplasmosis; thrombocytopenia was prominent in both. Elevated Alanine transaminase, Aspartate Aminotransferase and globulin, and reduced albumin, were more prominent in Ehrlichiosis.
Conclusion: These findings confirm active circulation of E. canis and A. platys in Tehran's canine population, with out­door exposure as a key risk factor, and demonstrate that E. canis induces more pronounced clinicopathological abnor­malities than A. platys.

Background: Phlebotomine sand fly taxonomy has been widely studied, often due to their role as vectors of various pathogens, including arboviruses, Leishmania spp. and Bartonella spp., which cause infections in both animals and hu­mans. The objective of this research was to determine the morphological characteristics of various populations of Phleboto­mus halepensis, Ph. kabulensis and Ph. salangensis collected in the southeastern region of Iran, using mor­pho­metric analysis of male sand fly features.
Methods:  Specimens were captured by sticky paper traps and preserved in 70% ethanol. They were mounted in Puri’s medium on microscope slides. The sand flies were identified by examining them under a light microscope following valid morphological keys. The morphometric analysis of the specimens was done using a microscope aided by a mi­crometer. All measurements were recorded in millimeters (mm). Photographs and drawings of identifying characteris­tics of male specimens were taken.
Results: A total of 87 phlebotomine sand flies belonging to the subgenus Adlerius were caught in four counties of Sis­tan and Baluchistan Province, Iran. We report the presence of Adlerius in the counties: Iranshahr (Ph. kabulensis), Khash (Ph. halepensis, Ph. kabulensis and Ph. salangensis), Nikshahr (Ph. halepensis and Ph. kabulensis) and Zahedan (Ph. halepen­sis, Ph. kabulensis and Ph. salangensis). The morphometric characteristics of Ph. halepensis, Ph. kabulen­sis and Ph. sa­langensis are listed in detail in this article.
Conclusion: More intensive investigations are required to find sand fly infections, their relative abundance and distribu­tion; moreover, subsequent DNA molecular comparisons are needed to control them in Iran.

Background: Urbanization and vegetation strongly shape the ecology of the dengue vectors Aedes aegypti and Ae. al­bopictus, yet their fine-scale seasonal distributions in rapidly growing Indian cities remain poorly characterised.
Methods: We integrated six satellite and terrain-derived environmental predictors with longitudinal larval data from 29 sites in Bhopal, central India. Seasonal larval distributions and environmental gradients were represented using inverse distance weighting (IDW) and analysed with exploratory Random Forest (RF) regression and SHAP. Environmental associations were further evaluated using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and LMG hierarchical partitioning, while leave-one-site-out (LOSO) validation assessed the complete IDW-RF spatial reconstruction workflow and Mo­ran’s I assessed residual spatial autocorrelation.
Results: Exploratory RF/SHAP identified species- and season-specific patterns. Aedes aegypti showed stronger associa­tions with urban-intensity variables, particularly population density and built volume, whereas NDVI variables had the highest relative importance for Ae. albopictus across both seasons; dry-season NDVI was also important for Ae. aegypti. LOSO-RF showed limited out-of-sample performance (R²= 0.089 to −0.496). PLSR leave-one-out cross-validation showed modest monsoon performance (Q²= 0.23–0.29) and weak dry-season performance. LMG supported broad spe­cies-level differences in relative predictor contribution, while residual spatial autocorrelation was not significant in three of four PLSR models. Seasonal mapping showed broader monsoon hotspots for Ae. aegypti and more localized distribu­tions for Ae. albopictus.
Conclusion: Integrating remote sensing, GIS, exploratory RF/SHAP and complementary multivariate methods provides a practical framework for spatially explicit characterisation of species-specific environmental associations that may in­form vector surveillance.

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) remains a major public health concern in Morocco, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where environmental and demographic conditions favor disease transmission. Understanding the determinants of CL occurrence is essential for improving surveillance and control strategies. The paper aims to investigate the climatic and demographic factors associated with CL occurrence in an endemic area of southeastern Morocco during the period 2014–2023.

Methods: A multivariate analysis was performed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) implemented in R software. The conceptual model incorporated climatic variables (temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind speed) and population characteristics to evaluate their effects on CL occurrence.

Results: The results of the analysis indicate that climatic factors significantly affect the occurrence of CL (β = -0.576, p < 0.001). The population characteristics were also positively associated with CL occurrence (β = 0.247, p< 0.001), suggesting increased vulnerability to transmission in densely populated areas. The structural model showed that climatic variables exert both direct effects on CL occurrence and indirect effects mediated through population characteristics, highlighting the complex interactions shaping disease dynamics in the study area.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that both climatic variability and population characteristics contribute to the occurrence of CL in southeastern Morocco. Integrating these determinants into surveillance systems may improve early detection and guide targeted control strategies for vector-borne diseases in endemic regions.

Our recent observations of Aedes aegypti oviposition behavior (1), conducted both in con­trolled insectary settings (Fig. 1) and natu­ral en­vironments in Bandar Abbas (27°11′46″N, 56°17′16″E), Iran, reveal a criti­cal nuance that may significantly affect the accuracy of cur­rent vector surveillance pro­grams.

Dengue has become one of the fastest-grow­ing mosquito-borne viral diseases worldwide, causing 390 million infections annually and imposing an enormous burden on public health systems, particularly in tropi­cal and subtropi­cal countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) included dengue among the 10 priori­ties of its strategic plan. The WHO estimates that 40% of the world’s population is at risk of contracting the dis­ease. Despite extensive efforts to control den­gue through vector man­agement, outbreaks continue to increase in fre­quency and geo­graphic extent (1).