Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in Iran

Table 1 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among blood donors in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	Location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Taheri Azbarmi	2003-2005	Rasht, Gilan province	North	49820	91	0.18%	ELISA and RIBA	[36]
Mansour-Ghanaei	1998-2003	Gilan	North	221508	3603	1.62%	ELISA	[37]
					709	0.32%	RIBA
Bani Aghil	2006-2008	Golestan	North-East	128198	161	0.12%	ELISA and immunoblot	[38]
Khedmat	2003-2005	Tehran	North-Center	1004889	21390	2.10%	ELISA	[39]
					1005	0.10%	RT-PCR
Attarchi	2003-2004	Tehran	North-Center	26645	42	0.20%	ELISA and RIBA	[40]
Khedmat	2005-2006	Tehran	North-Center	318029	323	0.09%	ELISA, immunoblot and RT-PCR	[35]
Bozorgi	2002-2004	Qazvin	West-Center	48116	73	0.15%	ELISA and RIBA	[41]
Mahdaviani	2004	Arak	West-Center	11615	81	0.70%	ELISA	[42]
					33	0.20%	RIBA
Bozorgi	2009	Qazvin	West-Center	20591	328	1.59%	ELISA	[43]
					35	0.17%	HCV confirmatory tests (ND)
Afzali	1996-2001	Kashan	Center	43731	477	1.10%	ELISA	[44]
Moniri	2001-2002	Kashan	Center	600	3	0.50%	ELISA	[45]
Karimi	2004-2006	Shahr-e Kord	Central	35124	70	0.20%	ELISA and immunoblot	[46]
Masaeli	2002-2003	Isfahan	Center	29458	24	0.27%	ELISA and RIBA	[47]
Esmaieli	2006-2007	Bushehr	South	20294	42	0.20%	ELISA and immunoblot	[48]
Ghavanini	1998	Shiraz	South	7897	47	0.59%	ELISA and immunoblot	[49]
Emamghorashi	2001-2003	Jahrom	South	3000	9	0.30%	ELISA and immunoblot	[50]
Kasraian	2002-2005	Shiraz	South	507531	710	0.14%	ELISA	[51]
Kasraian	2007-2008	Shiraz	South	93987	203	0.21%	ELISA and RIBA	[52]
Delavari	2003	Kerman	South-East	15252	60	0.39%	ELISA	[53]
Tajbakhsh	2004	Shahr-e kord	West	11472	69	0.60%	ELISA	[54]
Doosti	2003-2004	Shahrekord	West	11200	76	0.67%	ELISA	[55]
						0.59%	immunoblot
						0.41%	RT-PCR
Ghafouri	2006-2009	South Khorasan	East	42652	31	0.07%	ELISA	[56]
					13	0.03%	RIBA

ND: Not defined; ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 2 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among general population in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	Location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Zamani	2008-2011	Amol, Mazandaran	North	6145	12	0.20%	ELISA	[60]
					5	0.08%	RIBA
					3	0.05%	RT-PCR
Mansour-Ghanaei	2003	Gilan	North	383	9	2.30%	ELISA	[61]
					5	1.30%	RT-PCR
Shakeri	2010-2011	Mashhad	North-East	3870	8	0.20%	ELISA	[62]
					5	0.13%	RT-PCR
Ghadir	2006	Golestan	North-East	2123	56	2.60%	ELISA	[63]
					22	1.00%	RIBA
Merat	2006	Golestan	North-East	1895	18	1.00%	ELISA and RIBA	[58]
Merat	2006	Tehran	North-Center	2326	8	0.30%	ELISA and RIBA	[58]
Merat	2006	Hormozgan	South	1463	24	1.60%	ELISA and RIBA	[58]
Motlagh	2001	Ahvaz	South-West	80	5	6.25%	ELISA	[64]
					0	0.00%	Immunoblot
Nikbakht	2007-2008	Ahvaz	South-West	712	9	0.63%	ELISA	[65]
Moradi	2001-2002	Saravan,	South-East	365	3	0.80%	ELISA	[66]
		Sistan and
		Baluchestan
Sayad	2006	Kermanshah	West	1721	15	0.87%	ELISA, immunoblot and RT-PCR	[67]
Mohebbi	2007-2008	Lorestan	West	827	2	0.20%	ELISA	[68]

ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 3 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among injecting drug users in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Mohtasham Amiri	2003	Gilan	North	81	72	88.9%	ELISA	[72]
Rahimi-Movaghar	2006-2007	Tehran	North-Center	895	309	34.5%	ELISA	[73]
Hosseini	2006	Tehran	North-Center	417	334	80.0%	ELISA	[74]
Zali	1995	Tehran	North-Center	402 (Male imprisoned IDUs)	182	45.3%	ELISA, RIBA	[75]
Zamani	2004	Tehran	North-Center	202	105	52.0%	Particle Agglutination (PA) assay	[76]
Hajinasrollah	2005	Tehran	North-Center	65	11	17.0%	ELISA	[77]
Amin-Esmaeili	2006-2007	Tehran	North-Center	895	309	34.5%	ELISA	[78]
Nokhodian	2008-2009	Isfahan	Center	531	250	47.1%	ELISA	[79]
Zamani	2008	Isfahan	Center	117	71	60.7%	EIA	[80]
Kassaian	2009	Isfahan	Center	943	392	41.6%	ELISA	[81]
Fadaei Nobari	2011	Isfahan	Center	1747	595	34.0%	ELISA	[82]
Sofian	2009	Arak, Markazi	West-Center	153 (Male IDUs)	91	59.5%	ELISA	[83]
Ramezani	2012	Arak	West-Center	100 (Male IDUs)	56	56.0%	ELISA	[84]
Honarvar	2012-2013	Shiraz	South	569 (High risk groups)	109	19.1%	ELISA and immunoblot	[70]
				233 (IDUs)	94	40.3%
				336 (non-IDUs)	15	4.4%
Davoodian	2002	Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan	South	249	163	64.8%	ELISA	[85]
Sarkari	2009-2010	Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad	South-West	158	67	42.4%	ELISA	[86]
Imani	2004	Shahr-e Kord	Sout-West	133	15	11.3%	ELISA	[87]
Alavi	2002-2006	Ahvaz	South-West	333	103	30.9%	ND	[88]
Mohammad Alizadeh	2002	Hamadan	West	149 (IDUs Prisoners)	47	31.5%	ELISA, immunoblot	[89]
Keramat	2005-2007	Hamadan	West	379 (High risk groups)	135	35.6%	ELISA, immunoblot	[90]
				199 (IDUs)	126	63.3%

IDUs: Injecting drug users; ND: Not defined; ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 4 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among hemodialysis in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	Location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Makhlough	2006	Mazandaran	North	186	39	21.0%	ELISA	[99]
					21	11.3%	RT-PCR
Amiri	2001	Gilan	North	298	80	26.8%	ELISA	[100]
					74	24.8%	Immunoblot
Joukar	2008	Gilan	North	514	61	11.9%	ELISA	[101]
					32	6.2%	RT-PCR
Samimi-rad	2005	Markazi	West-Center	204	11	5.4%	ELISA, RIBA and RT-PCR	[102]
Bozorghi	2006	Qazvin	West-Center	89	9	10.3%	ELISA	[103]
					6	6.4%	RIBA
Somi	2012	Tabriz	North-West	455	37	8.1%	ELISA	[104]
Zahedi	2010	Kerman	South-East	228	16	7.0%	ELISA	[105]
					7	3.0%	PCR
Kalantari	2010-2011	Isfahan	Center	499	26	5.2%	ELISA	[106]
Zamani	1998–2005	Amol, Tonekabon, Rasht and Ramsar	North	334	67	20.0%	ELISA, RT-PCR	[107]
		Mazandaran and Gilan provinces
Assarehzadegan	2005-2006	Khuzestan	South-West	214	34	7.9%	ELISA, RT-PCR	[108]
Nemati	1990-2006	Tehran	Center	112	6	5.3%	ELISA, RT-PCR	[109]
Sotoudehjahromi	2006	Jahrom	South	34	3	8.8%	ELISA	[110]
					2	5.9%	RIBA
Alavian	2003	Tehran	North-Center	838	176	21.0%	ELISA	[111]
					111	13.2%	RIBA
Broumand	2002	Tehran	North-Center	548	105	19.6%	ELISA	[112]
					51	9.33%	RT-PCR
Nasiri-Toosi	2007	Tehran	North-Center	130	11	8.5%	ND	[113]
Mohammad-Alizadeh	2002	Hamedan	West	96	9	11.4%	ELISA	[114]
Saboor	1999-2000	Kermanshah	West	140	37	26.4%	ELISA	[115]
Jabbari	2008	Golestan	North-East	93	23	24.7%	ELISA, RIBA	[116]
Ansari	2005-2006	Urmia	North-West	50	19	38.0%	EIA	[117]
					12	24.0%	RT-PCR
Hassanshahi	2006-2007	Kerman	South-East	203	64	31.5%	ELISA, RT-PCR	[118]
Ansar	1997-1998	Gilan	North	93	52	55.9%	ELISA	[119]

ND: Not defined; ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 5 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among hemophilia patients in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	Location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Mansour-Ghanaei	1999	Gilan	North	101	72	71.30%	RIBA	[120]
Torabi	2004	East Azarbaijan	North-West	130	72	56.00%	ELISA, RIBA	[121]
Valizadeh	2010	West Azarbaijan	North-West	35	3	8.57%	ELISA, RIBA and RT-PCR	[122]
Mousavian	2003-2005	Tehran	North-Center	1095	802	72.30%	ELISA and RT-PCR	[123]
Kalantari	2008-2010	Isfahan	Center	615	495	80.50%	ELISA	[124]
					347	56.40%	RT-PCR
Mobini	2006	Yazd	Center	77	41	53.20%	ELISA	[125]
					38	49.40%	RT-PCR
Yazdani	1996-2010	Isfahan	Center	350	231	66.00%	ELISA	[126]
Javadzadeh Shahshahani	2003	Yazd	Center	74	36	48.60%	ELISA and RIBA	[127]
Samimi-Rad	2004	Markazi	West-Center	76	34	44.70%	ELISA	[128]
					33	43.40%	RIBA
					23	30.26%	RT-PCR
Mahdaviani	2004	Markazi	West-Center	68	26	38.20%	ELISA	[129]
					25	36.70%	RIBA
Karimi	1999-2000	Shiraz	South	281	44	15.65%	ELISA and immunoblot	[130]
Assarehzadegan	2008-2009	Ahvaz	South-West	87	47	54.00%	ELISA	[131]
					42	48.30%	RT-PCR
Zahedi	2002	Kerman	South-East	97	43	44.30%	ELISA and RIBA	[132]
Sharifi-Mood	2003-2006	Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchistan	South-East	81	24	29.60%	ELISA and immunoblot	[133]
Esfahani	2012	Hamadan	West	89	44	49.40%	ELISA	[134]
					15	16.70%	RT-PCR

ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 6 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among thalassemia patients in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	Location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Mirmomen	2002	Tehran	North-Center	410	80	19.6%	ELISA, RIBA	[138]
		Kerman	South-East	100	18	18.8%
		Qazvin	West-Center	95	23	25.3%
		Semnan	East-Center	81	19	24.4%
		Zanjan	West	46	1	2.2%
		Total		732	141	19.6%
Ansar	1997-1998	Rasht	North	105	67	63.8%	ELISA	[119]
Ghane	2010-2011	Gilan and Mazandaran	North	245	46	18.8%	ELISA	[139]
					28	11.4%	Nested-PCR
Tamaddoni	2005	Babol	North	113	12	10.6%	ELISA	[140]
Mansouritorghabeh	2007	Mashhad	North-East	360	30	8.33%	ELISA	[137]
Alavi	ND	Tehran	North-Center	90 (pediatric patients)	12	13.3%	ELISA, RT-PCR	[141]
Alavian	2002	Qazvin	West-Center	96	23	24.2%	ELISA, RIBA	[142]
Samimi-Rad	2004	Markazi	West-Center	98	7	7.1%	ELISA	[128]
					5	5.1%	RIBA
					2	2.04%	RT-PCR
Bozorgi	2005	Qazvin	West-Central	207	54	26.1%	ELISA	[143]
					50	24.01%	RIBA
Azarkeivan	1996-2009	Tehran	North-Center	395	109	27.5%	EIA, RIBA	[144]
Mahdaviani	2004	Markazi	West-Center	97	9	9.2%	ELISA	[129]
					7	7.2%	RIBA
Nakhaie	1999-2000	Tehran	North-Center	507	122	24.0%	ELISA	[145]
					41	8.1%	RT-PCR
Kalantari	2008-2010	Isfahan	Center	545	50	9.1%	ELISA	[124]
					31	5.6%	RT-PCR
Ataei	1996-2011	Isfahan	Center	466	37	8.0%	ND	[146]
Javadzadeh Shahshahani	2003	Yazd	Center	85	8	9.4%	ELISA, RIBA	[127]
Karimi	1999-2000	Shiraz	South	466 (pediatric patients)	73	15.7%	ELISA and immunoblot	[147]
Kashef	2006	Shiraz	South	131	24	18.3%	ELISA and immunoblot	[148]
					7	5.3%	RT-PCR
Kadivar	1999	Shiraz	South	147	40	27.2%	ELISA	[149]
Shahraki	2005-2007	Zahedan	South-East	560 (pediatric patients)	30	5.3%	ELISA	[150]
					20	3.5%	PCR
Hassanshahi	2006-2007	Kerman	South-East	181	81	44.7%	ELISA, RT-PCR	[118]
Ghafourian Boroujerdnia	2005-2006	Ahvaz	South-West	206	58	28.2%	ELISA	[151]
					46	22.3%	RT-PCR
Sarkari	2009-2010	Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad	South-West	49	3	6.1%	ELISA	[86]

ND: Not defined; ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 7 Prevalence of hepatitis C virus among HIV-positive patients in Iran

Author	Year of study	City or province	Location	No. of participants	No. of positive samples	Prevalence	Test	Ref.
Babamahmoodi	2008-2010	Mazandaran	North	80	27	33.8%	ELISA	[173]
Ramezani	1999-2004	Tehran	North-Center	95	65	68.0%	ELISA	[167]
SeyedAlinaghi	2004- 2005	Tehran	North-Center	201	135	67.2%	ELISA	[170]
Ataei	1998-2007	Isfahan	Center	130	100	77.0%	ELISA and RIBA	[168]
Davarpanah	2006-2007	Shiraz	South	226	200	88.5%	ELISA	[166]
					196	86.7%	RIBA
					59	26.1%	RT-PCR
Khosravi		Fars	South	101	87	86.1%	ELISA	[172]
Alipour	2011	Shiraz	South	1444	1132	78.4%	ELISA	[169]
Davoodian	2002	Bandar Abbas and Roodan	South	38	35	94.0%	ELISA	[85]
Zahedi	2011	Kerman	South-East	165	122	73.9%	ELISA	[165]
Sharifi-Mood	2000-2005	Zahedan	South-East	52	6	11.5%	ND	[162]
Alavi	2001-2003	Ahvaz	South-West	104	77	74.04%	ELISA	[171]
Saleh	2013	Khorramabad, Lorestan	West	103	23	22.3%	ELISA	[174]
Mohammadi	2007-2008	Lorestan	West	391	282	72.0%	ELISA	[163]

ND: Not defined; ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; RIBA: Recombinant immunoblot assay.

Table 8 Distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes among hepatitis C virus -infected patients in Iran n (%)

Study group	City or province	Location	Year of study	Sample size	Genotype 1	Genotype 2	Genotype 3	Genotypes 4 and 5	Mixed genotype	Non typable	Method	Author	Ref.
Blood donors	Ahvaz	South-West	2007-2008	45	1a: 24 (53.3)		3a: 21 (46.7)				RFLP	Farshadpour	[233]
Blood donors	Tehran	North-Center	2006-2008	103	1a: 53 (51.5)		3a: 39 (37.9)			7 (6.8)	Type-specific primers	Sharifi	[234]
					1b: 4 (3.9)
General population	Iran	Iran	2000-2005	116	1a: 71 (61.2)		3a: 29 (25.0)				RFLP	Amini	[235]
					1b: 16 (13.8)
General population	Iran	Iran	2004-2007	206	1a: 53 (25.73)	2: 4 (1.95)	3a: 96 (46.60)		11 (5.34)	6 (2.91)	PCR kit	Hajia	[236]
					1b: 36 (17.47)
General population	Isfahan	Center	2007-2009	97	1a: 29 (29.5)	2: 2 (2.0)	3a: 59 (61.2)		2 (2.0)		PCR based genotyping kit	Zarkesh-Esfahani	[237]
					1b: 5 (5.1)
General population	Zanjan	West	2007-2013	ND	1a: 22.05%	2: 5.14%	3a: 38.26%	4: 4.41%		4.41%	LiPA	Esmaeilzadeh	[238]
					1b: 25.73%
General population	Yazd	Center	2010-2013	191	1a: 74 (38.7)	2: 3 (1.6)	3: 96 (50.3)		5 (2.6)		PCR based genotyping kit	Hadinedoushan	[239]
					1b: 13 (6.8)
General population	Mashhad	North-East	2009-2010	382	1a: 147 (39.2)	2a: 9 (2.4)	3a: 150 (40.0)	5: 13(3.4)			Genotype specific primers	Vossughinia	[240]
					1b: 41(10.9)
General population	Tehran	North-Center	2007	2231	1a: 886 (39.7)		3a: 613 (27.5)		33 (1.6)	401 (18.0)	Genotype specific primers	Keyvani	[241]
					1b: 271 (12.1)
General population	Golestan	North	2010	77	1a: 15 (19.5)	2a: 2 (2.6)	3a: 12 (15.6)	4: 6 (7.8)	8 (6.5)		Genotype specific primers	Moradi	[242]
					1b: 15(19.5)		3b: 19 (24.7)
General population	Ahvaz	South-West	2009	80	1a: 43 (53.8)		3a: 37 (46.2)				RFLP	Hamidi-Fard	[243]
Thalassemia	Mazandaran	North	2009-2011	34	1a: 13 (38.24)		3a: 15 (44.12)		4 (11.76)	1 (2.94)	Type-specific primer	Rafiei	[244]
					1b: 1 (2.94)
Thalassemia	Mazandaran and Guilan	North	2010	28	1a: 9 (32.1)		3a: 18 (64.3)				RFLP	Ghane	[245]
					1b: 1 (3.6)
Thalassemia	Fars	South	2009-2012	38	1: 17 (44.7)		3: 6 (15.8)			15 (39.5)	Real-time PCR	Jamalidoust	[231]
Haemophilia	Mazandaran	North	2009-2011	33	1a: 7 (21.21)		3a: 25 (75.76)			1 (3.03)	Type-specific primer	Rafiei	[244]
Haemophilia	Fars	South	2009-2012	8	1: 5 (62.5)		3: 1 (12.5)			2 (25.0)	Real-time PCR	Jamalidoust	[231]
Haemophilia	Ahvaz	South-West	2008-2009	42	1a: 26 (61.9)		3a: 5 (11.9)				Genotype specific primers	Assarehzadegan	[131]
					1b: 11 (26.1)
Haemophilia	Markazi	West-Center	2004	22	1: 6 (27.3)	2: 1 (4.54)	3a: 4 (18.2)		6 (27.3)		LiPA	Samimi-Rad	[128]
					1a: 3 (13.6)
					1b: 2 (9.1)
IDUs	Mazandaran	North	2009-2011	37	1a: 11 (29.73)		3a: 5 (13.51)		11 (29.73)		Type-specific primer	Rafiei	[244]
					1b: 10 (27.03)
IDUs	Tehran	North-Center	2008-2009	36	1a: 9 (25)		3a: 21 (58.3 )				Type-specific primers	Ranjbar Kermani	[246]
					1b: 6 (16.7)
IDUs	Fars	South	2009-2012	550	1: 283 (51.5)		3: 192 (34.9)		8 (12.2)	67 (12.2)	Real-time PCR	Jamalidoust	[231]
IDUs	Tehran	North-Center	2008-2009	83	1a: 35 (42)		3a: 48 (58.0)				Sequencing	Samimi-Rad	[247]
Haemodialysis	Mazandaran	North	2009-2011	31	1a: 6 (19.36)		3a: 24 (77.42)		1 (3.22)		Type-specific primer	Rafiei	[244]
Haemodialysis	Markazi	West-Center	2005	8	1a: 4 (50)		3a: 1 (12.5)	4: 2 (25)			LiPA	Samimi-Rad	[102]
					1b: 1 (12.5)
Haemodialysis	Fars	South	2009-2012	6	1: 4 (66.7)			4: 1(16.7)		1 (16.7)	Real-time PCR	Jamalidoust	[231]
Haemodialysis	East Azerbaijan	North-West	2006	55	1a: 42 (76.4)		3a: 3 (5.5)		1 (1.8)	4 (10.9)	Type-specific primer	somi	[248]
					1b: 3 (5.5)
Haemodialysis	Gilan	North	2008	32	1a: 19 (59.4)		3a: 13 (40.6)				Genotype-specific primers	Joukar	[101]
Haemodialysis	Tehran	North-Center	2004	66	1a: 19 (28.8)		3a: 20 (30.3)	4:11(16.7)	2 (3.0)		RFLP	Hosseini-Moghaddam	[249]
					1b: 12 (18.2)		3b: 2 (3.0)
HIV/HCV co-infection	Shiraz	South	2004-2005	50	1a: 20 (40)		3a: 17 (34.0)				RFLP	Davarpanah	[250]
					1b: 13 (26)
Occult HCV infected patients	Tehran	North-Center	2007-2010	7	1a: 2 (29)		3a: 2 (29.0)				RFLP	Bokharaei-Salim	[251]
					1b: 3 (43)

ND: Not defined.

Table 9 Global distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes[4,229,230]

Region/country	Predominant genotype/subtype	Uncommon genotype/subtype
Latin America
Peru	1a	2
Chile and Colombia	1b	2, 1a
Brazil	1b, 1a, 3	4, 2
Argentina	1b, 2, 1a	4
North America
United States	1a, 1b, 2	4, 3
Canada	1a, 3, 1b	4
Central Europe
Albania	1b, 2, 4	1a, 3
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic and Croatia	1b, 3	4, 2, 1a
Hungary	1b, 1a	2, 4
Romania	1b	3, 4
Western Europe
Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Spain and France	1b, 3, 1a	5, 2, 4
Italy	1b, 2	5, 3, 4
United Kingdom and Denmark	3, 1a	2
Eastern Europe
Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia	1b, 3	1a, 2
Central Africa	4	2
South Africa	5	2
West Africa
Guinea-Bissau, Ghana and Burkina Faso	2	1
East Africa
Ethiopia	4, 2	1
North Africa
Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria	1b, 2	4
Middle East
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt	4	1, 3, 2
Jordan	1a, 1b, 4	-
Iran	1a, 3a, 1b	4, 2
Turkey	1b	4, 2, 3, 1a
Asia Pacific
Japan and Korea	1b, 2	1a
Asia, Central
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Georgia	1b	1a
East Asia
China, Taiwan	1b, 2	1a, 3, 6
South East Asia
Laos	6	1
Philippines	1a, 2	6, 4
Thailand	3	2
Myanmar	6	2
Malaysia	3	4
South Asia
Pakistan and India	3	1b, 2, 4
Australasia
Australia and New Zealand	3, 1a, 1b	4, 2