Home sweet home: sand flies find a refuge in remote indigenous villages in north-eastern Brazil, where leishmaniasis is endemic.

Background: From 2012 to 2013, an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis by Leishmania braziliensis was detected in indigenous villages located in a remote rural area of Pernambuco state, north-eastern Brazil. Considering that the principal activities of this indigenous community are farming and crop plantation, and also that the outbreak involved many children, we investigated the presence of sand fly vectors inside human houses and also the exposure of dogs to leishmanial parasites. Our general objective was to gather epidemiological data that could indicate the occurrence of a peri-domestic/domestic transmission cycle of L.

Morphological and phylogenetic analyses of Lutzomyia migonei from three Brazilian states.

Lutzomyia migonei is incriminated as a vector of Leishmania braziliensis, the main causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil. Recently, this phlebotomine sand fly species has been suggested as a vector for Leishmania infantum, which causes zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis. Considering the widespread distribution of Lu.

Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an urban area of Northeastern Brazil.

Introduction:: The sandfly fauna is well studied globally. In Brazil, sandfly fauna is very diverse in the Northeast region, especially in states such as Maranhão, Ceará, and Bahia. However, in the State of Pernambuco, the distribution of these insects is still not well known.

Infectiousness of Sylvatic and Synanthropic Small Rodents Implicates a Multi-host Reservoir of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis.

Background: The possibility that a multi-host wildlife reservoir is responsible for maintaining transmission of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis causing human cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis is tested by comparative analysis of infection progression and infectiousness to sandflies in rodent host species previously shown to have high natural infection prevalences in both sylvatic or/and peridomestic habitats in close proximity to humans in northeast Brazil.

Methods: The clinical and parasitological outcomes, and infectiousness to sandflies, were observed in 54 colonized animals of three species (18 Necromys lasiurus, 18 Nectomys squamipes and 18 Rattus rattus) experimentally infected with high (5.5 × 10(6)/ml) or low (2.

Phenotypic differentiation in love song traits among sibling species of the Lutzomyia longipalpis complex in Brazil.

Background: Brazilian populations of Lutzomyia longipalpis may constitute a complex of cryptic species, and this report investigates the distribution and number of potential sibling species. One of the main differences observed among Brazilian populations is the type of acoustic signal produced by males during copulation. These copulation song differences seem to be evolving faster than neutral molecular markers and have been suggested to contribute to insemination failure observed in crosses between these sibling species.

Identification of phlebotomine sand fly blood meals by real-time PCR.

Background: Phlebotomine sand flies are blood-feeding insects of great medical and veterinary significance acting as vectors of Leishmania parasites. Studying the blood-feeding pattern of these insects may help in the understanding of their interactions with potential reservoir hosts of Leishmania parasites. In this study, we developed real time PCR assays for the identification of sand fly blood meal.

Molecular detection of Leishmania in phlebotomine sand flies in a cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis endemic area in northeastern Brazil.

Several phlebotomine sand fly species have been regarded as putative or proven vectors of parasites of the genus Leishmania in Brazil, but data for the northeastern region remains incipient. In this study, a total of 600 phlebotomine sand flies were grouped in pools of 10 specimens each and tested by a Leishmania genus-specific PCR and by a PCR targeting Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum. Fourteen out of 60 pools were positive by the genus-specific PCR, being five pools of L.

Ecology of Lutzomyia longipalpis in an area of visceral leishmaniasis transmission in north-eastern Brazil.

Visceral leishmaniasis is a major public health issue in South America, where the disease is rapidly spreading. Changes in ecology and distribution of the principal vector, Lutzomyia longipalpis are among the factors accounting for the increasing incidence of the disease in this region. However, information about the ecology of L.

Detection of Leishmania infantum in animals and their ectoparasites by conventional PCR and real time PCR.

Visceral leishmaniosis (VL) is a parasitic disease caused by Leishmania infantum, which is primarily transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies. However, there has been much speculation on the role of other arthropods in the transmission of VL. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the presence of L.

Bilateral anomaly in Evandromyia evandroi (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) captured in Vicência municipality, Northern Rainforest region of Pernambuco State, Brazil.

Approximately 800 species of phlebotomine sand flies, many of which are vectors of Leishmania, have been described. Besides morphological similarities within groups, the occurrence of anomalies within a species may lead to an erroneous description of new species. This paper describes one phlebotomine sand fly, Evandromyia evandroi, with a symmetrical bilateral anomaly in the number of spines on the gonostyle.

Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in São Vicente Férrer, a sympatric area to cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil.

Introduction: In the last decades, a considerable geographic expansion of the leishmaniases in all regions of Brazil has been observed. The present study was carried out to identify the composition of the phlebotomine sandfly fauna and verify the seasonal variation of the main species after environmental changes occurred in São Vicente Férrer Municipality, State of Pernambuco, Brazil.

Methods: Captures were carried out during four consecutive nights of each month using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention light traps from September 2009 to September 2010.

Microspatial distributional patterns of vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in pernambuco, northeastern Brazil.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution and population trends through time of Lutzomyia species in a long-term focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in an Atlantic Forest area, northeastern Brazil. Sand fly populations of different ecological niches were monitored spatiotemporally in 2009. To summarize vegetation characteristics and phenology, we calculated the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index from Landsat images.

Spatial and temporal patterns of occurrence of Lutzomyia sand fly species in an endemic area for cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Atlantic Forest region of northeast Brazil.

Sand fly populations of different ecological niches in the Amaraji endemic American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) focus of the Pernambuco Atlantic Forest region of northeastern Brazil were monitored spatiotemporally. Lutzomyia whitmani was dominant in all niches but occurred in smaller numbers in forested locations. L.