Publications by authors named "Moo-Llanes D"

Predicting the potential distribution and coexistence of suitable geographic areas for Chagas disease vectors in the Americas is a crucial task for understanding the eco-epidemiological dynamics of this disease. The potential distribution and coexistence of 3 species-Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), Cavernicola pilosa (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), and Rhodnius pictipes (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) were modeled. Presence records were obtained and environmental variables were selected based on correlation analysis, Jackknife analysis and knowledge of the biology and natural history of the species.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Studies on genetic and morphological changes in tick populations can help predict how species like Rhipicephalus sanguineus will respond to climate change, which is vital for understanding health risks associated with disease spread.
  • The research focused on how altitude affects the tick's size and shape, using specimens from diverse climates in Veracruz, Mexico, and applying geometric morphometric techniques.
  • Findings revealed that these ticks are adapting to higher altitudes, with significant implications for their distribution related to climate factors, particularly temperature, and highlighted the importance of monitoring these changes for future disease risk assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bats are one of the groups of mammals with the highest number of associated Trypanosoma taxa. There are 50 Trypanosoma species and genotypes infecting more than 75 species of bats across five continents. However, in Mexico, the inventory of species of the genus Trypanosoma associated with bats is limited to only two species (Trypanosoma vespertilionis and Trypanosoma cruzi) even though 140 species of bats inhabit this country.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Psathyromyia (Psathyromyia) shannoni sensu stricto (Dyar) is a vector of Leishmania parasite and the second sandfly of medical importance with a wide geographical but discontinuous distribution in America. Preliminary genetic structure analysis using a mitochondrial marker shows that the species integrated by at least four lineages could be the result of ecological adaptations to different environmental scenarios, but this hypothesis had never been proven. The aim of the present study was to analyse whether the genetic structure that detected Pa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae) has demonstrated its ability to increase its distribution raising spatially its importance as a vector for zoonotic hemotropic pathogens. In this study, a global ecological niche model of R. microplus was built in different scenarios using Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP), Socio-Economic Pathway (SSP), and a climatic dataset to determine where the species could establish itself and thus affect the variability in the presentation of the hemotropic diseases they transmit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In America, the presence of sensu stricto and has been confirmed. Both species are found in sympatry in the southern United States, northern Mexico, southern Brazil, and Argentina. The objective of this work is to evaluate the projection of the potential distribution of the ecological niche of sensu lato in two climate change scenarios in Mexico and the border with Central America and the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sandfly species (Diptera: Psychodidae) are suspected or proven vectors of Leishmania spp. in the American region. Understanding niche conservatism (NC) in insect vectors allows an understanding of constraints on adaptive responses, and thus implications for disease ecology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dipetalogaster maxima is a primary vector of Chagas disease in the Cape region of Baja California Sur, Mexico. The geographic distribution of D. maxima is limited to this small region of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Control programs for dengue prevention need more effective tools to monitor larval habitats, especially due to the new risks posed by COVID-19 for field technicians.
  • Use of drones was explored as a safer option for surveillance in dengue-endemic areas, enabling monitoring with minimal householder contact.
  • The study found that drones were significantly more effective at locating hard-to-reach breeding sites than traditional ground surveillance methods, suggesting drones could enhance vector control efforts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers created a database from various sources and used ecological niche modeling with 15 Bioclimatic variables to project the tick's distribution for three different time periods: Last Glacial Maximum, Current, and 2050.
  • * The findings show that A. mixtum has a high occurrence probability along the Gulf of Mexico, with new invasion risks identified along the Mexico-Guatemala-Belize border, and that ecological modeling is crucial for developing future control and surveillance strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tick-borne rickettsioses represent a severe public health problem that has increased in recent decades by several activities that place human populations in contact with a wide range of vectors. In particular, , an eschar-associated spotted fever agent, represents an emerging pathogen that has been gradually identified throughout America. In the present work, we compiled an occurrence database of these bacteria, as well as its vectors, in order to identify the potential distribution of these bacteria and to detect the risk areas where this emerging pathogen may be circulating.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Asian tiger mosquito is currently the most invasive vector species, with a widespread global distribution. is the potential vector of diverse arboviruses, including Zika and dengue. This study updated the ecological niche model of and inferred the potential distribution of natural infections in in México.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vespa mandarinia Smith is a species with native distribution in Asia and with the potential distribution of invasion in the Americas. We use ecological niche models to be able to predict their potential distribution in Asia and their projection in the Americas using KUENM in R in climate change scenarios. The ecological niche of V.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Phyllosoma complex is a Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) group of medical importance involved in Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) transmission. Most of the members of this group are endemic and sympatric species with distribution in Mexico and the southern U.S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lutzomyia longipalpis is a complex of species which has a wide but discontinuous distribution from southeastern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay. To date, eight mitochondrial haplogroups have been identified along its distribution although key environmental tolerances and ecological niche models have been analyzed only at the complex level. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether genetic diversification using three mitochondrial genes of the Lu.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine the abundance and geographic distribution of the main malaria vectors, which are influenced by habitat characteristics and ecological factors that directly impact adult density and the dynamics of malaria transmission in Mexico.

Materials And Methods: Samples of larvae were collected from 19 states in Mexico. Each larval habitat was characterized in situ determining the following parameters: water depth, turbidity, percentage of vegetation cover, amount of detritus, presence of algae, light intensity, type of vegetation, amount of predators, habitat stability, altitude, and hydrologic type.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine the species distribution, abundance, and diversity of culicids in the Yucatan Peninsula (YP); their potential distribution, using ecological niche modeling (ENM), and the risk of contact with urban and rural populations.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out through the YP. The diversity of species was determined with the Shannon index.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nine sandfly species (Diptera: Psychodidae) are suspected or proven vectors of Leishmania spp. in the North and Central America region. The ecological niches for these nine species were modelled in three time periods and the overlaps for all time periods of the geographic predictions (G space), and of ecological dimensions using pairwise comparisons of equivalent niches (E space), were calculated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Climate change can influence the geographical range of the ecological niche of pathogens by altering biotic interactions with vectors and reservoirs. The distributions of 20 epidemiologically important triatomine species in North America were modelled, comparing the genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction (GARP) and maximum entropy (MaxEnt), with or without topographical variables. Potential shifts in transmission niche for Trypanosoma cruzi (Trypanosomatida: Trypanosomatidae) (Chagas, 1909) were analysed for 2050 and 2070 in Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study explores the present day distribution of Lutzomyia longipalpis in relation to climate, and transfers the knowledge gained to likely future climatic conditions to predict changes in the species' potential distribution. We used ecological niche models calibrated based on occurrences of the species complex from across its known geographic range. Anticipated distributional changes varied by region, from stability to expansion or decline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The majority of the Yucatán State, México, presents subtropical climate that is suitable for many species of mosquitoes that are known to be vectors of diseases, including those from the genera Aedes and Culex. The objective of this study is to identify the geographic distribution of five species from these two genera and estimate the human population at risk of coming in contact with them. We compiled distributional data for Aedes aegypti (L.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Peruvian Andes presents a climate suitable for many species of sandfly that are known vectors of leishmaniasis or bartonellosis, including Lutzomyia peruensis (Diptera: Psychodidae), among others. In the present study, occurrences data for Lu. peruensis were compiled from several items in the scientific literature from Peru published between 1927 and 2015.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzes the evolutionary history and genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi, emphasizing the need for better markers to distinguish between subpopulations.
  • It highlights deficiencies in existing research methodologies, particularly a lack of hypothesis-driven and quantitative analyses in T. cruzi phylogenetic studies.
  • The findings indicate that despite extensive sympatry among T. cruzi lineages, better research designs are necessary to understand the impact of ecological changes on parasite transmission risks to humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The leishmaniasis is a complex disease system, caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania and transmitted to humans by the vector Lutzomyia spp. Since it is listed as a neglected disease according to the World Health Organization, the aim of this study was to determine the current and future niche of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in the Neotropical region. We built the ecological niche model (ENM) of cutaneous (N= 2 910 occurrences) and visceral (N= 851 occurrences) leishmaniasis using MaxEnt algorithm.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Localized cutaneous leishmaniasis represents a public health problem in many areas of Mexico, especially in the Yucatan Peninsula. An understanding of vector ecology and bionomics is of great importance in evaluations of the transmission dynamics of Leishmania parasites. A field study was conducted in the county of Calakmul, state of Campeche, during the period from November 2006 to March 2007.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF