infectious agents and stroke: a systematic review

Introduction: a major cause of injury and the second cause of death worldwide is stroke.among several infectious agents considered as the risk factor of stroke, some pathogensdemonstrated stronger robust associations with stroke. proposing an accurate correlationbetween infectious microorganisms and stroke provides valuable information for earlyintervention and control of the infections.methods: in this study, we searched the literature using the web of science, pmc/medline viapubmed, and scopus databases up to july 2018 without time and language restrictions. afterquality assessment, 16 articles were included in the study. the whole data extraction processwas independently conducted by two reviewers.results: based on the results of the studies, viruses, such as hepatitis c virus (hcv), hepatitisb virus (hbv), human immunodeficiency virus (hiv), herpes simplex virus type-1,2 (hsv-1, 2), varicella-zoster virus (vzv or chickenpox), and west nile virus (wnv)seem to be common causes of ischemic stroke. moreover, the association of other microbialcategories, such as streptococcus mutans (in bacteria), toxocara spp. and toxoplasma gondii(in parasites), and rhizopus sp. (in fungi) with stroke was reported.conclusion: considering the adverse role of the above-mentioned microorganisms, it isnecessary to implement some preventive measures for stroke treatment.