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Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a disease transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies, in a complex interaction with the nosogeography entity. This work is a geographical approach of VL in the state of São Paulo, supported by Ecological Niche Modeling. The goal is to verify the correlation between the spatial distribution of the sandfly Lutzomyia longipalpis and environmental variables, and verify the overlay distribution of reported human cases and final model of Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt). Data reports of the occurrence of Lu. longipalpis by municipalities from 1997-2016 were collected. Also environmental data from bioclimatic variables (BIOCLIM) in a 1km spatial resolution were collected. In the state, some variables were correlated with the sandfly distribution, such as: day-to-night ascilations in temperature (4%), maximum monthly temperature occurrence over a given year (16.1%), total precipitation during the driest month (22.7%), variation in monthly precipitation totals over the course of the year (16.7%), total precipitation that prevails during the wettest quarter (21.8%), total precipitation that prevails during the driest quarter (10.3%) and total precipitation that prevails during the coldest quarter (8.3%). The data clearly indicate a likelihood of expansion from the center of the state into Campinas and Piracicaba (east). Regarding the first expansion axis in the state, from center to the west, it is suggested working with the settlements, which can be a source of a specific case of VL expansion, the "new rural", enclosing the rural-urban-new rural hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The bacterium Wolbachia is a promising agent for the biological control of vector-borne diseases as some strains have the ability to block the transmission of key human diseasecausing pathogens. Fast, accurate and inexpensive methods of differentiating between infected and uninfected insects will be of critical importance as field-based trials of Wolbachia-based bio-control become increasingly common. Findings We have developed a specific and sensitive method of detecting Wolbachia based on the isothermal DNA amplification. This technique can be performed in an ordinary heat block without the need for gel-based visualisation, and is effective for a wide variety of insect hosts. Conclusion Here we present the development of a rapid, highly sensitive and inexpensive method to detect Wolbachia in a variety of insect hosts, including key mosquito disease vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]