The incidence of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania infantum, which is endemic in several parts of Iran, has recently increased in the Nourabad-Mamassani district of Fars province, in the south of the country. Between 2003 and 2005, 12,688 sandflies were caught in this focus, using CDC miniature light traps, sticky traps and aspirators, in an attempt to identify the main vector of L. infantum. When 120 of the parous, female Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) alexandri caught were individually checked for Leishmania infection, in an assay based on PCR and kinetoplast minicircle primers (LINR4 and LIN17), five (4.2%) of the flies were found to be infected with L. infantum. Thirty-nine (32.5%) of the 120 blood-fed Ph. alexandri checked in an ELISA were found positive for human blood. Since Ph. alexandri was the third-most common species caught (representing over 17% of the total catch), was clearly anthropophilic, and was not infrequently infected with L. infantum, it is probably an important vector in the Nourabad-Mamassani focus. Although other sandfly species have been found naturally infected with promastigotes in Iran, Ph. alexandri is the first that has been proven to harbour L. infantum in the country.

In the Old World, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is zoonoses and natural vertebrate hosts of CL parasites are mammals. This study was carried out on natural infection rates of Leishmania parasites in reservoir hosts in one new focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) and in suspected reservoir in an old focus of ACL in Iran. The sampling of rodents using Sherman traps was carried out and PCR technique was used for detection and identification of Leishmania species in Bahreman district, Kerman province, southeast of Iran. In addition, the smears were taken from suspicious lesions in stray dogs in the city of Kerman, the center of Kerman province. Simultaneously, pieces of lesion (1 9 191 cm) were taken for further histopathological examination. Overall, 25 rodents were collected and identified, including Meriones libycus and Rhombomys opimus. Amastigotes were observed in 33 % of the R. opimus by microscopic examination and indentified as Leishmania major by PCR technique. Four suspicious dogs out of 391 stray dogs showed no Leishmania species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first isolation and identification of L. major from R. opimus in Kerman province, where ZCL has been present in recent years. Therefore, R. opimus is considered as the main animal reservoir host in Bahreman ZCL focus. In ACL focus such as the city of Kerman, dogs had no role in CL infection as reservoir host.

Abstract. Doosti S, Yaghoobi-Ershadi MR, Sedahhat MM, Akbarzadeh K, Godwin GN. 2021. Larval habitats characteristics of Culicinae subfamily in southern of Iran. Nusantara Bioscience 13: 194-201. Globally, mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are known vectors of many diseases such as Malaria, Dengue fever, Sindbis, West Nile virus, Rift Vally fever, Japanese encephalitis, and Filariasis. This study aimed to determine larval habitat characteristics of mosquitoes in the southern part of Iran during 2009-2013. The study was carried out in mosquitoes' larval habitats, and samples were collected using dipping and pipette methods. The larvae were kept in lactophenol solution and transferred to the laboratory of Medical Entomology. Then, microscopic slides were prepared and species were identified using reliable morphological keys. Characteristics of larval breeding places were investigated based on the habitat type, water conditions, vegetation, and sunlight exposure. A total of 8188 mosquito larvae were collected from 209 different breeding places. In all, 20 mosquito species belonging to 4 genera were identified. Culex quienquefaciatus, Cx. pipiens, Culiseta longiareolata, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Cx. sitiens, Cx. theileri and Aedes caspius were the most common species found in this study. The southern part of Iran has the most wharfs and airports across the country. Additionally, there is a high diversity of medically important mosquito species like Cx. pipiens and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Ae. albopictus and Ae. vexans from the Culicidae family. The species are capable of vectoring various diseases in the southern part of Iran; hence, there is a need for more investigations.

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