Background & Objective: Control of TB is regarded as a health priority program in underdeveloped countries, and Iran in no exception in this regard. Annual risk of infection (ARI) is an important index in this program. This index shows the percentage of people in a society who have been contaminated, and consequently their skin test has changed from negative to positive. In this study, Tuberculin skin test is conducted on Ardabil primary school students and its changes, if any, after one year have been regarded using renewed skin test in order to show ARI in this age group.

 Methods: 780 students were selected from among 17 primary schools using simple random sampling method. They were 8-14 years old, (mean 9.92). Tuberculin skin test was performed on all subjects two times with a one- year interval (May 1998-1999). The test results were recorded and analyzed. In this study PPD over 10 mm was considered positive.

 Results: In 55 (7.1%) students the test was positive in both tests, and in 33 (4.2%) students, PPD changed from negative (first time) to positive (second time) and in 78 subjects the results were doubtful. 765 students (98.1%) had history of BCG vaccination.

 Conclusions: This study indicated that, firstly, over the time, BCG has little effect on Tuberculin skin test, and secondly, the high rate of tuberculin skin test changes from negative (first time) to positive (second time) represents probability of severe contamination in this area.

 Backgrond & Objective: In recent years, malaria has been a serious problem in Parsabad (a north-western town in Iran). A lot of health-care funding has been allocated to malaria campaign program in this area. The objective of this study was to investigate clinical epidemiology of malaria during 1999-2000.

 Methods: The data collected through epidemiology forms filled for 509 malaria positive cases during 1999- 2000 was analyzed by EPI2000 software. Frequency tables, X² test and one way ANOVA were used in this analysis.

 Results: All 509 Malaria cases diagnosed were P vivax. They belonged to the first seven-month of the year. 69.4% of malaria cases were related to the year 2000 and the others were related to 1999. The most frequent symptoms were chills in 488 cases (95.9%) and fever in 481 of them (94.5%). Sweating was found only in 3.9% of the reported cases. Mean age and standard deviation of patients was 22.9 + 15.6. There was no significant difference between men and women in terms of the distribution of fever and chills.

 Conclusions: The high prevalence of fever and chills was compatible with the findings of previous studies. If one of the two symptoms is positive in the residents of this area or those people traveling there, malaria should be suspected.

 Background & Objective: The prevalence of pediculosis in communities is one of the criteria for individual hygiene and one of the important diseases among students. Pediculosis capitis is very important in boarding schools. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of pediculosis capitis and relative factors among boarding school students.

 Methods: This study with a descriptive, analytic and cross - sectional method was performed upon 417 girl students from Ardabil boarding schools who were selected using systematic method. Pediculosis was diagnosed through direct observation by trained general practitioners. The data were collected using questionnaire and were analyzed by EPI 2000 and SPSS10.

 Results: 116 students (27.8%) complained about itching of scalp.41.2% of the students never took a shower in school and only 45.2% of them took a bath in school once a week or more. 74.3% of the students said that there was a bathroom in their school and about the accessibility of these bathrooms, 53 students (12.7%) had previous involvement with head lice. 21 cases (5%) had previous treatment of pediculosis capitis. 119 of the students (28.5%) suffered from head lice. There was a significant relationship among suffering from head lice and previous illness and existence of bath in home. No significant relationship was observed among this disease and sharing devices such as comb or head scarf in school or home. Prevalence of the disease among rural students was more common than urban ones.�

 Conclusions: some boarding school in Ardabil did not have enough hygienic facilities and the students of these schools were mostly from rural areas.

 Background & Objective: World health organization (WHO) has paid a special attention to the reproduction health, which plays a crucial role in women health care and its promotion. The purpose of this study is to determine reproductive factors among Ashayer women in Ardabil province.

 Methods: Part of the plan entitled Investigating health and disease among Ashayer in Ardabil which was conducted in 2003 aimed at determining the reproduction indices using a structured questionnaire. The present research was a cross-sectional study in which the data regarding the reproductive status of the Ashayer women were extracted, collected and analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive statistics.

 Results: 268 women at the age of 10-49 completed the questionnaire. Mean age of marriage among women was 18.2, 8.6% of them had a history of stillbirth, 18.1% abortion and 38.19% unwanted pregnancy. 31.4% of the subjects did not have any reproductive health care, and 67.6% of those who did so were taken care less than four times.

 Conclusion: Improvement of reproductive indices among these women requires proper health care programs in order to enhance family planning services as well as reproductive health. This can prevent future outcomes such as unwanted pregnancy and other related complications.

 Background& Objective: Animal bites are considered to be an important threat to human health. Ardabil province in north-western Iran has the highest incidence rate of animal bites in Iran. This study was an attempt to investigate the epidemiological features of animal bites in Ardabil province during a one-year period from April 1999 to April 2000.

 Methods: In this descriptive study a special questionnaire was filled for all cases of animal bites reported during a one year period in Ardabil province. The questionnaire included questions regarding rabies, age, sex, job, etc. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (release 9). Descriptive statistics was used in the form of frequency tables and graph in order to summarize the data.

 Results: The total number of exposed persons to animal bites were 4331. Males comprised 75% of cases (3259) and 1072 persons (25%) were females. The highest incidence rate was seen among 30-50 year-olds. Animal bites were more common in summer. In 3078 cases (17%), legs were the main site of bite. Dog bite was the most common type (95%).

 Conclusions: This study confirms that animal bite such as dog bite is an important public health problem in Ardabil province. Regarding the importance of this issue it is necessary to take serious measures in order to control and prevent this health thereat.

 Background & Objective: Ardabil province is the main area of Iran affected by relapsing fever (RF) for which Borrelia Persica is the most common cause. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of the disease, and the frequency of infection among ticks in this region in order to take necessary measures to decrease it is incidence and increase awareness about the characteristics of this disease.

 Method: In this study a total of 391 patients who were diagnosed to have been effected by tick borne relapsing fever were investigatated in terms of clinical epidemiology between 1998 and 2001. The kind of Borrelia as well as the clinical characteristics of the disease were observed. The kind and prevalence of Borrelia infection was determined in 1,421 ticks collected from 130 indoor and 14 outdoor sites. The ticks were crushed and the suspension obtained was injected into the peritoneum of two mice and two guinea pigs to determine the frequency of infection among the ticks living in this region. Data including the tick species determination were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using Chi-square and ANOVA tests.

 Results: The most prevalent clinical manifestations were fever, chills and headache. Other findings included nausea, vomiting, sweating, abdominal pain, arthralgia, cough, photophobia, eosinophilia, hematuria, jaundice, petechiae and sclera congestion. Laboratory tests performed on 60 patients showed leukocytosis, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and anemia. Of the 1,421 ticks collected, 45.9%, 40.3% and 13.8% were infected by Ornithodoros lahorensis Ornithodoros tholozani and Argas persicus species, respectively. The prevalence of ticks was highest in Khanadabil village. The ticks collected from three villages were found to be infected with Borrelia.

 Conclusions: The clinical manifestations were similar to those reported in other studies. Petechiae occurred less frequently in our study compared to louse-borne RF. The high frequency of anemia in this region, which was not stated in other reference articles, requires further investigation.

  Background & Objectives: In modern civilization, community participation is considered to be the most important way of development in different parts of the society. Establishing social development and health promotion centers (SDHPC) is the first step which is taken in this regard. In these centers, social development is implemented along with health promotion. During some planned activities people practice participation and having sense of responsibility while they move towards development and health. They understand that the key for solving majority of health problems are in their own hands.

  Methods: In the framework of an action research, interventions based on dynamic, reevaluation activities, were done in two parts: Formation of activity committees and establishment of population laboratory. SDPHC set its programs based on a planned approach to community health and community mobilization was the first practical action in this plan.

  Aiming at presentation and evaluation of community mobilization model, different activities consisting of mobilization of heath volunteers, raising participation of regional stake holders, recognizing social literature to ensure effective and pervasive communication with people, propagation and call for participation along with general enumeration of society was done to find authoritative people.

  Results: Health volunteers helped to recognize 60 key persons. 53 of them accepted participation. Objectives of the center were explained to them in three meetings, and their opinions were collected. A study of community literature showed that this region had a moderate to high cultural behaviors, and moderate to low income level and education with suitable interest in participation. The Evaluation of provincial broadcasting organization, municipality and other organizations was not desirable except for education organization. Publishing a newsletter was not welcomed by people but it created a bright perspective among governmental authorities. 287 persons accepted invitations voluntarily and took membership. After regional census, it was found that 4355 households with a total population of 19652 were living in this region 9305 (48%) of whom were females. Mean age of population was 26 and mean household dimension was 4.5. 8352 persons (42%) were married. Majority of women were house wives and majority of men had self managed job.

  Conclusion : The process of community mobilization in this project was evaluated to be successful but for establishment and continuation of activities in SDHPC most of the organizations and different groups of people should be encouraged to participate.

 Background & Objectives : Providing health services for all population subgroups of a community is a major hallmark for health administration. Little is known about health status of Ashayer population in Iran. This study aims at evaluating health status and quality of health service delivery to them.

 Methods: In a cross-sectional research 320 households (1800 persons), entered the study. Moreover, blood samples from 458 dogs were taken and studied with both Direct Aglutination Test (DAT) and a newly presented dipstick test . All children under 12 were also studied with DAT. In computing the sample size the generalizability for 63 variables with a minimum and maximum probability level of 90% and 97% respectively were taken into account and since the cluster sampling was employed, the Design Effect would be at least 1.56 and for different variables in the first sample it would be at most 4.

 Results: Only 30 households(9.7%) used piped water supply inside their houses while most of the other families (41%) obtained their water from mobile water tanks. Residual water chlorine was measured to be zero in 88.7% of the samples taken from drinking water of Ashayer. 89 (27.8%) households had lavatories and 22 (7%) households had bathrooms inside their houses. 90.4% of those using raw vegetables washed them only with plain water. Monthly incidence rate for accidents was 230 per 10000. 18.1% of women in reproductive age had a history of abortion. Unwanted pregnancy rate was 38.9%. 47.1% of women with a labor history in past three years had never been visited by any person legally allowed to do so. Women in reproductive age had a poor knowledge about contraceptive methods. The minimum delay for vaccination was 16.9 (SD= 19.26) days regarding the third dose of OPV and the highest delay in vaccination was 46.44 (SD=60.7) days belonging to the third dose of HBV. From all 503 persons above 12 years old, 77 cases had hypertension. Periodontal easy bleeding was observed in 13.7 % and pyorrhea in 19.3%. 10.2 % had aching neck, 18.7% had backache and arthralgia was shown in 13.5%. The unmet need for physician's visit was 64.8%. The frequency of positive cases of leshmaniasis was 3.4% and 3.06% for boys and girls respectively. 28 male and 6 female dogs were positive in DAT test making an overall positive rate of 7.4%. Sensitivity of dipstick test was higher than 80 percent only when golden standard was considered to be DAT ≥ ¹ /₆₄₀.

  Conclusion: Many of the health indices of Ashayer except for vaccination were suitable. This requires further attemps on the part of govermental and health outhorities. Kale-azar disease can spread to the north of the province as well as the neighboring provinces due to the migration of these tribes. It is predicted that Bilesavar and Parsabad cities will be added to the andemic regions of this disease in coming years. Using dipstick test recently offered by WHO is recommended to be used to screen the infected dogs.