First Report on Natural Infection of Phlebotomus sergenti with Leishmania Promastigotes in the Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Focus in Southeastern Tunisia

Abstract

During September 2010, 133 female sand flies were caught inside houses of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis in the focus for this disease in southeastern Tunisia and subsequently dissected. One specimen was positive for Leishmania protozoa. This sand fly species was identified as Phlebotomus sergenti, and the parasite was identified as L. tropica. This is the first report of P. sergenti involvement in transmission of L. tropica in Tunisia.

No Evidence of Interspecific Genetic Exchange by Multi-Locus Microsatellite Typing Between Leishmania Killicki and Leishmania Major in a Mixed Focus of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Southeast Tunisia

“…L.tropica) are the only species circulating in the Tataouine governorate. The isolates were collected in different villages of the investigated region, confirming the geographical spread of Leishmania [3,7,9]. Contrary to previous studies, the most abundant species was L. killicki, accounting for 80% of our sampling.…”

“…The absence of interspecific genetic exchange might be explained by different epidemiological cycles at the sympatric level. These two species seem to have overlapped geographical foci but different vector species and different mammalian reservoir hosts [7,9,10,63], limiting the interactions between them. As reported by Tabbabi et al the incriminated vectors for L. major and L. killicki in the Tataouine region would be species specific [9].…”

“…Indoors, P. sergenti and P. papatasi, known to be endophilic were co-dominant [8]. Phlebotomus riouxi (or P. chabaudi), which is suspected to be linked to L. killicki transmission [9], was the dominant species in the semi-natural rocky habitats associated with the presence of Ctenodactylus (C.) gundi, described as a potential reservoir [7][8][9][10]. Concerning the reproductive strategy, the current assumption, mainly based on population genetics studies, is that Leishmania alternates between three modes of reproduction: clonality, allogamy (interspecific recombination), and endogamy (intraspecific recombination), varying according to the species and the environment [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

“…L. tropica) and L. major species, respectively [6][7][8]. Recent studies on sandflies showed that P. papatasi is the most abundant in the burrows of rodents such as Meriones, which are known reservoir hosts of L. major.…”

Natural Infection of North African Gundi (Ctenodactylus gundi) by Leishmania tropica in the Focus of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Southeast Tunisia

“…[8][9][10] On the other hand, natural infection of P. sergenti with Leishmania promastigotes was reported in the CL focus in southeastern Tunisia. 11 Likewise, P. sergenti has been recently identified as the L. tropica host in a sylvatic site populated by gundis (Massoutiera mzabi) of a neighboring region, namely Ghardaïa, south Algeria. 12 The purpose of this study was to assess the Leishmania infection rate in North African gundis of the Tataouine region, to identify Leishmania species infecting this wild rodent, and to compare the genetic relatedness between parasites characterized in gundis, humans, and sandflies of the same region.…”