Phlebotomine sand flies and < i > Leishmania < /i > species in a focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Algeria

by Roumaissa Gherbi, Mustapha Bounechada, Maria Stefania Latrofa, Giada Annoscia, Viviana Domenica Tarallo, Filipe Dantas-Torres, Domenico Otranto Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disease caused by variousLeishmania spp., which are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies. Algeria is one of the most affected countries, with thousands of cutaneous leishmaniasis cases registered every year. From March to November of 2016 and 2017, sand flies were collected in 12 municipalities in Setif province, North-Eastern Algeria. Sand flies were identified and females were tested by PCR for detectingLeishmania DNA. Additionally, cutaneous leishmaniasis cases notified during the study period were analysed. Out of 1804 sand flies collected, 1737 were identified as belonging to seven species, withPhlebotomus perniciosus (76.2%),Ph.papatasi (16.7%) andPh.sergenti (5.0%) being the most common species, representing together 97.9% of the collected specimens. The remaining specimens were identified asSergentomyia minuta,Se.fallax,Ph.longicuspis andPh.perfiliewi. The number of sand flies collected monthly was positively correlated with temperature. Out of 804 females tested, ninePh.perniciosus (1.1%) scored positive forLeishmania infantum (n = 6),L.major (n = 2) andL.tropica (n = 1), respectively. During the study period, 34 cutaneous leishmaniasis cases were notified in Setif, of which 58.8% were patients residing in two urban and peri-urban municipalities and 41.2% in rural areas. The finding ofPh.per...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research