Natural Leishmania (Viannia) infections of phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) indicate classical and alternative transmission cycles of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Guiana Shield, Brazil.

Adelson Alcimar Almeida De Souza,Yara Lúcia Lins Jennings,José Aprígio Nunes Lima,Jeffrey Shaw,Maria Das Graças Soares Silva,Edna Aoba Yassui Ishikawa,Ghislaine Prévot,Thiago Vasconcelos Dos Santos,Iorlando Da Rocha Barata,Marine Ginouves,Fernando Tobias Silveira

doi:10.1051/parasite/2017016

Abstract

From 1996 to 1999 multi-trapping methods (Center of Diseases Control, CDC) light traps, light-baited Shannon traps, and aspiration on tree bases) were used to study the phlebotomine fauna of the “Serra do Navio” region of the Brazilian State of Amapá, which is part of the Guiana Shield. Fifty-three species were identified among 8,685 captured individuals. The following species, associated with the transmission of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Amazonian Brazil, were captured: Nyssomyia umbratilis (3,388), Psychodopygus squamiventris maripaensis (995), Ny. anduzei (550), Trichophoromyia ubiquitalis (400), Ny. whitmani (291), Ps. paraensis (116), and Bichromomyia flaviscutellata (50). Flagellate infections were detected in 45 flies. Of the 19 parasites isolated in vitro, 15 were Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis (13 in Ny. umbratilis, 1 in Ny. whitmani, 1 in Ny. anduzei) and three were L. (V.) naiffi (2 in Ps. s. maripaensis, 1 in Ny. anduzei). The results indicate the participation of three phlebotomine species in the transmission of L. (V.) guyanensis and two species in that of L. (V.) naiffi, and show that the same phlebotomine species is involved in the transmission of different Leishmania (Viannia) species in the Guianan/Amazon region. A review of the literature together with the results of the present study, and other published and unpublished results, indicate that eight phlebotomine species potentially participate in the transmission of Leishmania (Viannia) naiffi in Amazonia.

Highlights

The Guiana Shield is a geological formation with various ecological areas within the Amazon biome of Venezuela (DeltaAmacuro, Bolívar, and Amazonas States), Brazil (NorthernAmapá, Pará, Roraima, and Amazonas States), Guyana, Suriname, and the Overseas Department of French Guiana.Its environmental conditions sustain some specific ecological niches and it is one of the regions with the highest biodiversity in the world [49]
In French Guiana, for example, recently [43] other species have been found associated with an emerging American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) pattern [L. (V.) lainsoni – 1.4%, L. (L.) amazonensis – 2.6%, L. (V.) braziliensis – 8.8%]
These findings are of concern as they indicate ecological changes that favor the transmission of other parasites associated with debilitating forms of the disease, such as diffuse and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis

Summary

Introduction

Its environmental conditions sustain some specific ecological niches and it is one of the regions with the highest biodiversity in the world [49]. Such characteristics favor an array of vectorreservoir relationships and a mosaic of leishmanian ecosystems [55]. These findings are of concern as they indicate ecological changes that favor the transmission of other parasites associated with debilitating forms of the disease, such as diffuse and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. The state is bordered by northern Pará State to the west and French Guiana to the northwest, where the ecology of the disease has been studied more extensively [16, 33, 39, 43, 54, 55].

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