Abstract
The genus Phlebotomus is naturally responsible for the transmission of many protozoal parasites like Leishmania. The study was conducted to determine the effect of some climate factors on sandflies distribution over a year from December 2019 to November 2020. A total of 268 sandflies of both sexes were collected from different areas in Misan province, Iraq. Sandflies were collected using light traps and stick oil paper, then placed in cups or Petri dishes containing sterile normal saline for examination. The current study showed an inverse relationship between the presence and number of sandflies with temperatures. Rainfall had a significant impact on parasite distribution, while wind speed had a potential impact on sandfly activity. The percentage of female sandflies was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of males (54.85% for females versus 45.15% for males). In conclusion, heavy precipitation is the main climate factor that affects the frequency distribution of local breed sandflies followed by rising temperature degrees that are seen in the summer season. The climate can affect the activity, spreading, and distribution of sandflies with detected one peak of their activity in December.
Highlights
Lutzomyia, Phlebotomus, and Sergentomyia are three genera in the Phlebotomidae family, which some authors split into three genera[1,2,3]
Scopoli in 1786 described Phlebotomus sandflies for the first time, and the genus Phlebotomus was classified by Rondani (1840) in Italy [46]
The highest numbers of sandflies were recorded in December, January, and February where the amount of rain and humidity rate was very high with moderate wind movement
Summary
Phlebotomus, and Sergentomyia are three genera in the Phlebotomidae family, which some authors split into three genera[1,2,3]. The life cycle of Leishmania starts when a parasitized female sandfly takes a blood meal from a vertebrate host [7]. Sandflies become infected by ingesting macrophage infected cells with amastigotes during blood meals. The ingestion of parasitized cells ends with a burst of these cells and amastigotes transform into promastigotes, develop in the midgut for organisms into the Leishmania subgenus [8]. The reproduction and division are done by binary fission They increase in number until the cell eventually bursts and infect other phagocytic cells [7]. The promastigotes migrate to the proboscis, sandflies take a blood meal from vertebrates either human or animals, they inject promastigote stage
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