Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Microbiology 2008-3289 11 1 2019 03 23 19 24 EN Mahdi Rohani Department of Microbiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran AND National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran Abdolrazagh Hashemi Shahraki National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran AND Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran Ahmad Ghasemi National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran AND Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Saber Esmaeili National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran AND Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran AND Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Aynur Karadenizli Department of Medical Microbiology, Kocaeli University Medical School, Kocaeli, Turkey Ehsan Mostafavi National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran AND Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran 2018 10 30 2019 02 22 Background and Objectives: Francisella tularensis has a wide distribution in northern hemisphere of the world. Up to now, there was little information about the Francisella spp. situation in the environmental samples in Iran. In this study we aimed to determine the prevalence of Francisella spp. in the environmental samples in northwest of Iran. Materials and Methods: A total of 237 natural water samples from ponds, rivers, lakes, springs and other surface waters from north western provinces of Iran (Kurdistan and Western Azerbaijan) were collected from September to November 2015. All samples were cultured for Francisella and other bacterial species and Real Time TaqMan PCR was performed on the concentrated and DNA extracted samples. For detection of the presence of bacterial DNA in the samples, two different targets in the genome of Francisella, ISFtu2 and fopA were used. Results: Among the tested surface water samples, 40 (17.09%; 95% CI: 12.67-22.33%) and 12 (5.13%; 95%CI: 2.81-8.56%) samples were positive for ISFtu2 and fopA respectively. None of them was positive in culture. Conclusion: The prevalence of Francisella spp. in the environmental samples in the west of Iran is high and it is comparable with Turkey, Iran’s neighboring country. Use of higher copy number genes or IS like ISFtu2 could improve the detection of this organism in the environmental samples. https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/view/1940 https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/download/1940/1117