American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Pontal of Paranapanema - SP, Brazil: ecological and entomological aspects.

Unlabelled: American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) occurs in epidemic outbreaks and in sporadic cases with small annual variation in the Pontal of Paranapanema, SP. There is little research on the sandfly fauna of this region. The last outbreaks were related to the Movement of the Landless Workers (MST) and with the ecological tourism in preserved forest of the Parque Estadual do Morro do Diabo (PEMD).

Aim: identification of the sandfly fauna within the PEMD, mainly anthropophilic species already incriminated as vectors of ACL, as well as their seasonality, hourly frequency and data of the behavior. M&M: The captures were undertaken with CDC light and Shannon traps from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, monthly from May 2000 to December 2001. The temperature and relative humidity data were registered at hourly intervals.

Results: The captured species were: Brumptomyia brumpti, Nyssomyia neivai, Nyssomyia whitmani, Pintomyia fischeri and Pintomyia pessoai. The P. pessoai predominated (34.39%) and N. neivai was less found (0.74%), only being captured in CDC traps. Shannon trap captured more sandflies (63.01%) than the CDC traps (36.99%). Despite the environmental degradation anthropophilic species, indicates favorable bioecological conditions for persistence of vectors and potential transmission of leishmaniasis.