Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Based on the World Health Organization reports, infections caused by ampicillin-resistant Haemophilus influenzae strains are a major threat to public health and need urgent therapy with new antibiotics. Given the lack of a previous comprehensive study on the prevalence of the antibiotic resistance of H. influenzae in Iran, this systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to increase the knowledge about antibiotic resistance status of this pathogenic agent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the purpose of the study, the articles related to the subject of interest and published up to August 2018 were searched in several English and Persian databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Scientific Information Database, and Magiran. The search process was accomplished using the following keywords: "Antibiotic resistance", "H. influenzae", and "Iran". The data were pooled from 13 eligible studies reporting the prevalence of antibiotic resistance of H. influenzae in Iran. RESULTS: The prevalence of H. influenzae resistance to various antibiotics in Iran, including ampicillin, amoxicillin, cephalexin, cefixime, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, and ceftizoxime, were obtained as 54.8%, 66.6%, 28.6%, 62%, 21.3%, 22.3%, 23.2%, respectively. These rates were reported as 27.7%, 46.7%, 53%, 82.6%, 40.3%, 30.8% for chloramphenicol, tetracycline, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, penicillin, erythromycin, and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Additionally, ceftriaxone, gentamicin, amikacin, kanamycin, rifampin, azithromycin, and clindamycin had the H. influenzae resistance rates of 33.1%, 40.2%, 45.8%, 44.4%, 18.5%, 17.4%, and 71.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The majority of the antibiotics tested in Iran showed a high rate of resistance to H. influenzae. This may cause serious problems in the treatment of infections in the future. Therefore, precautionary measures, such as monitoring antibiotic prescription and resistance and using the new classes of antibiotics, are necessary.