Geographic Information System-Based Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniasis and Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever in Provinces of Iran

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a zymotic fever disease which its causative protozoan agent is Leis mania. Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a keen fever that infects from tick bite or contact with blood of carrion. In recent years, mentioned zoonotic diseases have been occurred in the provinces of Iran endemically. The main objectives of this study were to analyze yearly spatial distribution and the possible spatial clusters of mentioned diseases to better understand epidemiological aspects of them in the provinces of this country. Survey was performed during the period of 2000–2011 at province level (31 provinces) throughout the study area. Global clustering methods including the average nearest neighbor distance, Moran’s I and General G indices were applied to investigate the annual spatial distribution of diseases. Spatial statistics methods including Local Moran's I and Local G have been utilized in the study. Significant spatial clusters were detected almost in provinces with arid and semi-arid weather where special attention is inevitable.