Back ground: Water-borne parasitic infections are caused by pathogenic parasites found in water, which can be acquired through many ways. These parasites are usually not well monitored and reported, so there is an underestimation of their prevalence.

Aims: The aim of this study was to systemically review the prevalence and epidemiology of water-borne diseases in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-region) that include about 490 million inhabitants distributed in 20 independent countries.

Methods: Available online scientific databases, mainly PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Google Scholar and MEDLINE, were searched for the main water-borne parasitic infections in the countries of MENA-region.

Results: The main parasitic infections were: Cryptosporidiosis, Amoebiasis, Giardiasis, Schistosomiasis and Toxocariasis.  Among these, cryptosporidiosis was the most frequently reported water-borne parasitic infection in the MENA-region. Many of the published data were from Egypt, which has the highest population in the MENA-region.

Conclusions: Water-borne parasites although still endemic in many countries of the MENA-region, their incidence has fallen dramatically due to implementation of control and eradication programs in many countries who could afford these programs.

Title

Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal

Publisher

World Health Organization WHO

Publisher Country

Switzerland

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

2.1

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

29

Year

2023

Pages

151–161