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Background & objectives: Trichostrongylus spp. are common parasites of herbivorous animals and trichostrongyliasis is an important zoonotic disease in Iran, especially in northern Iran. Routine laboratory methods for diagnosis of these infections are direct smear and formalin-ethyl acetate techniques. There is no enough evidence about the sensitivity of nutrient agar plate culture for detection of Trichostrongylus spp infections. The objective of this study was to compare the nutrient agar plate culture and the formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation techniques for laboratory diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis in an endemic area of northern Iran.
Methods: A total of 1553 fresh stool samples were collected from residents of 31 villages within the Fouman district in Guilan province during 2015–2016. All samples were examined using nutrient agar plate culture and formalin- ethyl acetate concentration techniques for detection of Trichostrongylus spp. infections.
Results: Overall, 71 cases were diagnosed with Trichostrongylus spp. by at least one of the methods. Considering parasitological results as the diagnostic gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of nutrient agar plate culture were 90.1% and 100%, respectively. Also, the sensitivity and specificity of the formalin ethyl acetate concentration method were 95.8% and 100%, respectively.
Conclusions: According to the results of this study, the formalin ethyl acetate method is more sensitive than nutrient agar plate culture in the diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis, especially in humid climate regions such as North of Iran.
 

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Background & objectives: Due to the increasing prevalence of bacterial resistance, there is a growing attention to application of auxiliary treatment of pharyngitis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of honey throat spray in the auxiliary treatment of patients with a diagnosis of pharyngitis.
Methods: At the start, different physicochemical quality parameters of the honey sample were evaluated. Then, the bottles of honey and the placebo throat spray were prepared. The numbers of 70 patients with the diagnosis of pharyngitis were included in a one-step and double-blinded study. In addition to standard treatment, each patient received either one of the honey or placebo throat spray. The clinical symptoms of the patients were compared between the two groups at baseline and then at 24 hours, 48 hours, 5 days and 10 days after the starting the treatment procedure.
Results: As per results, the quality of honey sample was met to the standard honey criteria. The treatment and placebo groups were statistically similar in terms of demographic specifications or clinical symptoms at the time to enter the study. Pharyngitis recovery was better in treatment group than in the placebo group; this positive effect was statistically significant for symptoms of morning phlegm and painful swallowing, 24 hours after the starting treatment. In treatment group, after 48 hours, symptoms of fever and painful swallowing were resolved, while this indicator was 23% in placebo group. Also, throat pain of 85.71% of patients in treatment group and 17.14% of patients in placebo group was relieved. Overall, the mean recovery time in treatment group was shorter than placebo group.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the use of honey throat spray as auxiliary treatment of pharyngitis can improve the clinical symptoms of pharyngitis and reduce recovery time.