Abstract
Phlebotomines have been recorded from a wide variety of habitats, and some of these vector species have shown preference for human environments, with high levels of adaptation. This study evaluated the degree of preference of these vectors for urban, rural, and forested environments (synanthropic behavior), as well as the diversity of these species, in three areas (forested, rural, and urban, exhibiting different degrees of anthropogenic changes) in a region of intense transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in Corumbá county, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Using light traps, sand fly specimens were collected from the three environments simultaneously, from May 2015 to April 2017, totaling 7 213 sand flies of 14 species in eight genera. Nuorteva’s synanthropy index was determined for the species Lutzomyia cruzi, Brumptomyia brumpti, Micropygomyia peresi, Lu. forattinii, Martinsmyia oliveirai and Evandromyia corumbaensis. Lutzomyia cruzi, the vector of Leishmania infantum in Corumbá, was the most abundant vector species, recorded from all three areas and sampling plots, on all 24 months investigated. This species exhibited the highest synanthropic index (+75.09), indicating a strong preference for urban environments. Brumptomyia brumpti, Micropygomyia peresi, Lu. forattinii, and Martinsmyia oliveirai showed preference, albeit not strong, for urban environments. Overall, males were more abundant than females (W = 490; p < 0.0001). High density, high synanthropic index, and sustained indoor presence were found for Mi. peresi in the rural area. Monitoring changes in the ecological behavior of sand flies is of vital importance, as these changes may indicate an increased likelihood of leishmaniasis emergence or reemergence.
Highlights
Leishmaniasis, a disease whose etiological agents involve roughly 20 species of the genus Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), is transmitted to animals and humans through the bites of female insects of the order Diptera, family Psychodidae, subfamily Phlebotominae
Fourteen phlebotomine species in eight genera were collected during a 24-month period: Brumptomyia brumpti, Evandromyia aldafalcaoae, Ev. corumbaensis, Ev. lenti, Ev. sallesi, Ev. walkeri, Lutzomyia cruzi, Lu. forattinii, Martinsmyia oliveirai, Micropygomyia peresi, Nyssomyia whitmani, Psathyromyia bigeniculata, Pa. hermanlenti and Sciopemyia sordellii (Table 2)
The results for sampling adequacy, based on the curve of species accumulation for the three areas, did not reveal apparent stabilization, failing to attain the predicted asymptote, suggesting the need for a greater sampling effort to record additional species (Fig 10). This is the first study of sand fly synanthropy conducted in Midwest Brazil
Summary
Leishmaniasis, a disease whose etiological agents involve roughly 20 species of the genus Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), is transmitted to animals and humans through the bites of female insects of the order Diptera, family Psychodidae, subfamily Phlebotominae. In the 1950s, the urbanization of leishmaniasis became evident, with cases detected in northeastern Brazil and later across the country [5,6,7,8]. Epidemiological studies have revealed changes in the epidemiological profile of leishmaniasis in Brazil, formerly affecting only animals in the wild and occasionally humans who ventured into wild environments [5, 9]. The disease has been reported from both rural and urban environments in all Brazilian regions, characterizing the entire country as an endemic area [1]
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