Survey of natural infection by Leishmania in sand fly species collected in southeastern Brazil

Rocha, Leonardo S.; Falqueto, Aloísio; dos Santos, Claudiney B.; Ferreira, Adelson L.; da Graça, Grazielle C.; Grimaldi, Gabriel; Cupolillo, Elisa

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2010.02.005

« Previous Next »Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume 104, Issue 7 , Pages 461-466, July 2010

Survey of natural infection by Leishmania in sand fly species collected in southeastern Brazil

Leonardo S. Rocha
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Leishmaniose, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Aloísio Falqueto
- Unidade de Medicina Tropical, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, UFES, Espírito Santo, Brasil
Claudiney B. dos Santos
- Núcleo de Entomologia, Secretaria Estadual de Saúde e Meio Ambiente do Estado do Espírito Santo, SESA, Espírito Santo, Brasil
Adelson L. Ferreira
- Unidade de Medicina Tropical, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, UFES, Espírito Santo, Brasil
Grazielle C. da Graça
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Leishmaniose, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Gabriel Grimaldi Jr.
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Leishmaniose, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Elisa Cupolillo
- Laboratório de Pesquisa em Leishmaniose, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
- Corresponding author at: Av. Brasil 4365, Pavilhão Leônidas Deane s509, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, 21040-360. Tel.: +55 21 3865 8177; fax: +55 21 2209 4110.

Received 24 August 2009; received in revised form 10 February 2010; accepted 10 February 2010.

Summary

In this study, we sought to identify sand fly vectors of the Leishmania species that circulate in distinct eco-epidemiological disease-endemic rural areas within the Espírito Santo State in southeastern Brazil. PCR amplification of a conserved region of the minicircle kDNA was used to estimate infection rates in field-captured, peridomestic female sand flies. Only 13 of the 1689 female sand fly specimens (0.77%) actually contained Leishmania DNA. Leishmania braziliensis infections were found in Lutzomyia intermedia and Lu. whitmani, and, for the first time, in Lu. fischeri and Lu. ferreirana. Interestingly, the high rate of genetic polymorphism of the L. braziliensis parasites in one of the disease-endemic areas that were studied may reflect specific transmission cycles involving different sand fly vectors.

Keywords: Sand flies, natural infection, Lutzomyia fischeri, Lutzomyia ferreirana, Leishmaniasis, Leishmania braziliensis