Abstract
The present study aimed to check the sand flies' fauna on the municipality of Lassance, Minas Gerais, Brazil and detect the presence of Leishmania DNA on the female captured and determine the risk areas of the municipality. Sand flies were collected monthly from May 2018 to April 2019 using automatic light traps for 3 consecutive nights. Eight houses were selected as sample points due its previous reports of tegumentary leishmaniasis and/or canine leishmaniasis. The sand fly's fauna found on the present study it's represented by several medical importance species and the most abundant species found were Lutzomyia longipalpis (77.09%) and Nyssomyia intermedia (10.06%). Leishmania infantum DNA was detected in a pool of Lu. longipalpis resulting on a 2.81% of infection rate. By the frequency of the two most abundant species on this study, we developed a risk area map and it draws attention to sample point 6 due to disparate abundance of sand flies at this site (81.81%). Statistical overview shows Lu. longipalpis as dominant species and, still, Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling analysis reveal high similarity on fauna's diversity on the study area. Our findings suggest that the diversity of sand flies from the municipality of Lassance may promote the circulation of Leishmania infantum parasites putting in risk the habitants and other mammal's species. Still, our study reinforces the necessity of specific studies focused on breed sites of phlebotomine and its' ecology to expand the knowledge about the behaviour of this group of insects applying directly to leishmaniases' epidemiology.
Highlights
Sand flies are widely-distributed insects in the world. They include species that are highly adapted to a great diversity of environments and that are involved in the transmission of parasites of the genus Leishmania, which infect several mammals, including humans, causing leishmaniasis
Sand fly in Minas Gerais, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientıfico e Tecnologico
Eight sampling points were selected throughout the urban area of Lassance (Fig 3) according to information obtained by the local municipal health department about residences involved in canine and/or human cases of leishmaniasis
Summary
Sand flies are widely-distributed insects in the world They include species that are highly adapted to a great diversity of environments and that are involved in the transmission of parasites of the genus Leishmania, which infect several mammals, including humans, causing leishmaniasis. These insects are more abundant in the Neotropical region, with a greater number of species whose densities fluctuate with climatic seasons [1]. Some studies on sand flies carried out in Minas Gerais, in urban, rural and wild areas, show a significant difference between richness and abundance between these environments, always with the prevalence of Lutzomyia longipalpis in the urban environment [3,4,5]. The results will enable us to indicate to health authorities of the municipality the areas of highest risk
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