Tuberculosis Control and Role of Molecular Epidemiology Studies in Iran: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Today because of immigration, HIV pandemic and spread of drug resistant tuberculosis, mortality caused by tuberculosis (TB) has increased. To control the disease it is essential to identify the sources of the infection and patterns of transmission. This becomes possible through using molecular epidemiology methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research reviewed studies based on IS6110-restriction fragment length polymorphism (IS6110-RFLP) as a primary method to recognize the role of molecular epidemiology researches in managing TB in Iran. Within 1995–2015 all human population based studies which had use IS6110-RFLP as the primary method systematically reviewed. RESULTS: At the end, 11 articles were selected. The mean clustering rate obtained was 28.1%. The rate of recent transmission was variable from 2% to 49% and the mean value was determined 17%. CONCLUSION: The studies revealed that in Iran both reactivation and recent transmission were significant in developing new cases of TB. Yet, reactivation plays greater role. If the matter is supervised insufficiently and carelessly, because of increasing rate of drug resistant TB, immigration of HIV infected individuals, TB especially drug resistant TB will be problematic in the near future.