Laboratory transmission of an Asian strain of Leishmania tropica by the bite of the southern European sand fly Phlebotomus perniciosus.

Laboratory transmission of an Asian strain of Leishmania tropica by the bite of the southern European sand fly Phlebotomus perniciosus. Int J Parasitol. 2019 Mar 30;: Authors: Bongiorno G, Muccio TD, Bianchi R, Gramiccia M, Gradoni L Abstract Imported cases of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania tropica are increasingly documented in Europe. We investigated the ability of Phlebotomus perniciosus, a competent vector of Leishmania infantum widespread in southwestern Europe, to support the growth and transmissibility of an Asian strain of L. tropica recently isolated from a refugee. Parasite growth behavior was investigated in laboratory-reared sand flies fed artificially with promastigotes as well as in sand flies infected after biting on footpad lesions induced in hamsters by promastigote inoculation. The evolution of infection was checked by gut microscopy and quantitative real-time PCR, and it was found to be similar between promastigote- and amastigote-initiated infections. In 80% of infected sand flies, despite survival and flourishing growth of promastigotes after blood digestion and defecation, either the parasites died, or failed to migrate to the foregut and/or to mature into infective forms. However, in the remaining 20% L. tropica developed into abundant metacyclic promastigotes. The quantitative real-time PCR assay detected variable loads of gut promastigotes irrespective of morphological evidence of via...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research