Natural infection of the sand fly Phlebotomus kazeruni by Trypanosoma species in Pakistan

Hirotomo Kato,Farooq R Soomro,Javed H Baloch,Hiroshi Uezato,Hiroshi Sato,Yoshihisa Hashiguchi,Abdul M Bhutto,Hiroyuki Iwata

doi:10.1186/1756-3305-3-10

Abstract

The natural infection of phlebotomine sand flies by Leishmania parasites was surveyed in a desert area of Pakistan where cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic. Out of 220 female sand flies dissected, one sand fly, Phlebotomus kazeruni, was positive for flagellates in the hindgut. Analyses of cytochrome b (cyt b), glycosomal glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) and small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequences identified the parasite as a Trypanosoma species of probably a reptile or amphibian. This is the first report of phlebotomine sand flies naturally infected with a Trypanosoma species in Pakistan. The possible infection of sand flies with Trypanosoma species should be taken into consideration in epidemiological studies of vector species in areas where leishmaniasis is endemic.

Highlights

The natural infection of phlebotomine sand flies by Leishmania parasites was surveyed in a desert area of Pakistan where cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic
The identification of sand fly species is epidemiologically very important because less than 10 percent of over 800 species described are responsible for the transmission of human pathogens such as flagellate protozoa of the genus Leishmania [1,2,3]
Some Trypanosoma species of mammals, lizards, snakes and toads are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]

Summary

Introduction

The natural infection of phlebotomine sand flies by Leishmania parasites was surveyed in a desert area of Pakistan where cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic. Some sand fly species are reported to transmit non-pathogenic flagellates of Endotrypanum species, originally identified as intraerythrocytic parasites of sloths in the New World [4]. Since the flagellated forms of these parasites in the insect gut are morphologically similar to those of Leishmania, careful differentiation is needed for the epidemiological study of the vectors responsible for circulating Leishmania species.

Results

Conclusion