Abstract
ABSTRACT Notifications concerning American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) are increasing in the northern areas of Brazil, particularly due to the ongoing increase in human settlements inside the Amazon Forest. Notwithstanding the economical and sanitary importance of the ATL, the ecological aspects of its potential vectors, the Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae), remains largely neglected. This study aimed to investigate the diversity of the phlebotomine fauna as well as the detection of Leishmania DNA in these insects in the rural settlement Perimetral Norte, in the state of Amapa, eastern region of the Amazon, endemic region for tegumentary leishmaniasis. Sand flies were collected bimonthly from February 2018 to February 2019, using CDC light traps exposed for three consecutive nights in 10 houses of settlement residents. DNA extraction and multiplex PCR were performed to detect trypanosomatids. A total of 3,946 sandflies belonging to 37 species were collected. The most abundant species were Ty. trichopyga (Floch & Abonnenc, 1945) (21.9%) and Mi. rorotaensis (Floch & Abonnenc, 1944) (16.9%). A total of 36 positive pools were found with Leishmania DNA (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), representing 17.9% of the total pools tested (201), those with the highest Minimum infection rates were Mg. migonei (Franca, 1920) and Lu. gomezi (Nitzulescu, 1931), Leishmania DNA was also detected in Bi. flaviscutellata (Mangabeira, 1942), Ny. umbratilis (Ward & Fraiha, 1977), Ny. anduzei (Roseboom, 1942) and Ny. antunesi (Coutinho, 1939). These data confirm the probable participation of these four species in the tegumentary leishmaniasis cycle in the eastern Amazon.
Highlights
Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are small dipterans of medical and veterinary relevance, as they play a role in the transmission of pathogens between human and other mammals
Leishmania, so it is necessary to identify potential vectors through reliable techniques that can point out which species are infected and better understand medical epidemiology and disease entomology involved in the leishmaniasis cycle (Perez et al, 1994)
In the Amazon region, advances in changes in the dynamics of land use by man, such as the construction of roads, the establishment of settlements and the advancement of agricultural activities, have brought consequences such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity and adaptation of vectors to peridomicile environments (Rosário et al, 2017; Tadei et al, 2017; Ávila et al, 2018) and the increase in human American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) cases registered in northern Brazil demonstrate a possible collaboration of this process of adaptation of the leishmaniasis cycle vectors
Summary
Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are small dipterans of medical and veterinary relevance, as they play a role in the transmission of pathogens between human and other mammals. These insects have a wide geographic distribution and can be found on all continents except the poles (Pinto et al, 2015; Silva et al, 2020). Leishmania, so it is necessary to identify potential vectors through reliable techniques that can point out which species are infected and better understand medical epidemiology and disease entomology involved in the leishmaniasis cycle (Perez et al, 1994). Recent research demonstrates the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) as a highly accurate and important molecular technique for identification and infectivity research (Sambrook and Russel, 2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
