Host-feeding preference of Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an endemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in northern Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundBlood-feeding behavior studies are important for estimating the efficiency of pathogen transmission and assessing the relative human disease risk. However, in Ethiopia and other parts of East Africa there are large remaining gaps in identifying the feeding habits of Phlebotomus orientalis, the vector of Leishmania donovani. The aim of the study was to determine the blood feeding patterns of P. orientalis in Tahtay Adiyabo district, northern Ethiopia.MethodsFor bloodmeal analysis, sandflies were collected from three different villages of Tahtay Adiyabo district using CDC light traps, sticky traps, and pyrethrum spray catches. Bloodmeal of engorged female sandflies was identified using cytochrome (cyt) b-PCR and reverse-line blotting (RLB) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assays.ResultsMost (637/641) of the females analyzed were P. orientalis. Successful identification of the host from bloodmeals was achieved in 83.03 and 92.1 % using cyt b PCR-RLB and ELISA, respectively. Bloodmeal analysis of P. orientalis females revealed that they have a range of hosts with predominant preference to bovines followed by donkey, human, goat, sheep, dog, and camel.ConclusionResults obtained from bloodmeal analyses demonstrate that the feeding preference of P. orientalis is mainly zoophilic, which could vary depending on the availability of hosts.

Physiological Age Structure andLeishmaniaspp. Detection inPhlebotomus (Larroussius) orientalis(Parrot, 1936) (Diptera: Psychodidae) at an Endemic Focus of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Northern Ethiopia

“…Regarding the abdominal status of P. orientalis , large numbers of blood-fed females were sampled in peridomestic habitats of the study villages compared with agricultural fields. This higher proportion of engorged females in this habitat is largely associated with the accessibility of large numbers of blood meal sources to questing females of P. orientalis [ 32 , 33 ]. On the other hand, relatively moderate numbers of half-gravid and gravid females were collected in agricultural fields, suggesting that older populations of the fly tend to remain in their breeding/resting sites until full development of ovules [ 34 ].…”

Recombinant Salivary Proteins of Phlebotomus orientalis are Suitable Antigens to Measure Exposure of Domestic Animals to Sand Fly Bites

“…orientalis was found to be an abundant sand fly species [ 28 ]. This opportunistic sand fly feeds on different mammals, depending on the host availability [ 29 – 31 ]. Indeed, anti- Ph .…”

Identification of blood meals in field captured sand flies by a PCR-RFLP approach based on cytochrome b gene

“…Amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent sequencingis widely used to study bloodmeal preferences in sand flies and other vectors as mosquitoes or ticks (Kirstein and Grey 1996, Oshagi et al 2006, Danabalan et al 2014.Thus, different molecular targets like cytochrome b (cytb), cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and prepronociceptin (PNOC) are being used to detect the origin of blood meals (Kocher et al 1989, Haoaus et al 2007, Abassi et al 2009). On the other hand, other techniques as PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)or PCRreverse-line blotting (RLB) have been developed in order to study blood meal preferences in mosquitoes, tsetse flies and sand flies (Osaghi et al 2006, Steuber et al 2005, Maleki-Ravasan et al 2009, Quaresma et al 2012, Soares et al 2014, Gebresilassie et al 2015.…”