No abstract

The principal factor that drives the study of phlebotomine sandflies is their potential role as vectors of Leishmania spp. worldwide. Over 800 species have already been described and it has been estimated that at least 81 of these may be involved in Leishmania transmission (Killick-Kendrick 1990).Leishmaniases constitute an important public health problem and are endemic to most Brazilian states, in which the sandfly fauna is diverse and widely distributed. As suggested by Andrade Filho et al. (2001) the great adaptability of sandflies to man-made environments favours an increase in the number of cases of leishmaniasis due to the progressive deterioration of natural areas containing the original sandfly habitats.This study aimed to determine the diversity of the species of sandflies collected with light traps in Lassance and Corinto on the banks of the Velhas River, state of Minas Gerais. (Falcão 1981) that were hung at 18 h and reviewed at 6 h the following morning, on two consecutive days of each month. In the second year, due to operational problems, it was not possible to sample the same points as in the first year of sampling or use the same number of traps. In the first year, 16 traps were set, eight in each municipality, equally distributed on opposite banks of the Velhas River. The location of capture 1 was in the Corinto municipality and four traps were hung in the gallery forest on both banks, with an average distance between the points of collections of 370 m. The location of capture 2 was in the Lassance municipality, with one trap hung in a chicken coop, one in a goat pen and two traps hung in the gallery forest on the right bank of the river. On the left side all the ecotopes sampled were the same, but one trap was hung in a corral. The average distance between the points of collections was 240 m. In the second year, 12 traps were set, all in the Lassance municipality, in two distinct areas on opposite sides of the city with three traps on each bank of the river. One of the sites was the same location as collection 2, during the first year. The same ecotopes were sampled but just one trap was placed in the gallery forest for both river banks. The site of collection 3 was located in a northern position in the Lassanse municipality. The average distance between the collection points on the banks was 240 m, with three traps hung in the gallery forest of each bank. The distance between the locations of collection 1 and 2 was 6.9 km and between the sites of collection 2 and 3 it was 5.8 km.The collected insects were killed with ether fumes and stored in test tubes containing 70% alcohol. Speci-

No abstract

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) caused by Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum is transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies and a major zoonotic disease in Brazil. Due to the southward expansion of the disease within the country and the central role of dogs as urban reservoirs of the parasite, we have investigated the occurrence of CVL in two municipalities Erval Velho and Herval d’Oeste in the Midwest region of Santa Catarina state. Peripheral blood samples from 126 dogs were collected in both cities and tested for anti-L. infantum antibodies by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence reaction (IIF) and for the presence of parasite DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in peripheral blood. From examined dogs, 35.71% (45/126) were positive for at least one of the three tests and two (1.6%) were positive in all performed tests. Twelve dogs (9.5%) were positive for both ELISA and IIF, while 21 dogs were exclusively positive for ELISA (16.7%), and 15 (11.9%) for IIF. L. infantum k-DNA was detected by PCR in 9 out of 126 dogs (7.1%) and clinical symptoms compatible with CVL were observed for 6 dogs. Taken together, these results indicate the transmission of CVL in this region, highlighting the needs for epidemiological surveillance and implementation of control measures for CVL transmission in this region.