1. Ecology of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) in a new focus of leishmaniasis in northern Iran.
- Author
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Norouzi, Behzad, Hanafi-Bojd, Ahmad-Ali, Moin-Vaziri, Vahideh, Noorallahi, Ayoob, and Azari-Hamidian, Shahyad
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SAND flies , *PSYCHODIDAE , *DIPTERA , *LEISHMANIASIS , *CUTANEOUS leishmaniasis - Abstract
• The seasonality of sand flies starts in May and ended in October. • Phlebotomus kandelakii displays mono modal trend with a peak in late June. • Phlebotomus perfiliewi and Ph. tobbi display bi-modal trends. • The abundance of total sand flies is positively correlated with saturation deficit. • The abundance of Ph. perfiliewi and Ph. tobbi is correlated with min temperature. Leishmaniasis is an important infectious disease in Iran. Rudbar County of Guilan Province is introduced as a new focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The present study is going to investigate the sand flies fauna in the province and their seasonality and ecology in Rudbar County. To study the sand flies fauna, the sampling was carried out in ten localities of Guilan Province using light traps, sticky traps and manual aspirators during 2016. For the determination of seasonality, the sampling was carried out every two weeks in the fixed site of Pareh Village of Rudbar County during April–October 2016. Sand Flies were removed from sticky traps, rinsed in acetone and then conserved in 80% ethanol as well as the samples of light traps and hand catch. In total, 4430 specimens of sand flies of the genera Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia were collected and identified including Ph. kandelakii, Ph. neglectus, Ph. perfiliewi, Ph. sergenti, Ph. tobbi and Se. dentata. Sergentomyia dentata was found for the first time in Guilan Province. The most prevalent species were Ph. tobbi (55.87%), Ph. perfiliewi (36.03%) and Ph. kandelakii (6. 97%). The seasonality of sand flies started in late May and ended in middle October in the fixed site. The peak of activity of Ph. kandelakii was in late June; however that was in late August for Ph. perfiliewi and Ph. tobbi. The monthly abundance of total sand flies was positively correlated with saturation deficit (P = 0.043). The abundance of Ph. perfiliewi was positively correlated with maximum temperature (P = 0.016), relative humidity (P = 0.006), rainfall (P = 0.007), saturation deficit (P = 0.003) and negatively with minimum temperature (P = 0.005). The abundance of Ph. tobbi was positively correlated with saturation deficit (P = 0.041) and negatively with minimum temperature (P = 0.043). The presence of suspected vectors of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis, Ph. kandelakii, Ph. neglectus, Ph. perfiliewi, Ph. sergenti and Ph. tobbi , is noteworthy. Finding the exact vectors of leishmaniasis using specific tests in the province is suggested. The seasonality of sand flies starts in May and ends in October. Phlebotomus kandelakii displays mono modal trend and Ph. perfiliewi and Ph. tobbi bi-modal trends. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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