Multifarious Characterization of Leishmania Tropica From a Judean Desert Focus, Exposing Intraspecific Diversity and Incriminating Phlebotomus Sergenti as Its Vector

Abstract

The predominant sand fly species collected inside houses in Kfar Adumim, an Israeli village in the Judean Desert that is a focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis, was Phlebotomus papatasi, which was also caught attempting to bite humans. Phlebotomus sergenti, which is rarely seen inside houses, constituted the predominant sand fly species in caves near the village. Leishmania isolates from Ph. sergenti and humans typed as Leishmania tropica. Sand fly and human isolates produced similar small nodular cutaneous lesions in hamsters. Isolates produced excreted factor (EF) of subserotypes A(9) or A(9)B(2), characteristic of L. tropica and reacted with L. tropica-specific monoclonal antibodies. Isoenzyme analysis consigned the strains to the L. tropica zymodemes MON-137 and MON-275. Molecular genetic analyses confirmed the strains were L. tropica and intraspecific microheterogeneity was observed. Genomic fingerprinting using a mini-satellite probe separated the L. tropica strains into two clusters that were not entirely congruent with geographic distribution. These results support the heterogeneous nature of L. tropica and incriminate Ph. sergenti as its vector in this Judean Desert focus.

Leishmania tropica in northern Israel: A clinical overview of an emerging focus

“…Parasites isolated in the northern part of this focus show antigenic, biochemical, and molecular differences from L tropica isolated in another region of the country. 13 Since 2000, a steady increase in the incidence of CL was noted in northern Israel, from 12 cases in the 12 months starting September 2000, to 22 cases from September 2001 to August 2002, to 30 cases in the 12-month period starting September 2002. Seventy-six percent of the study patients were residents of Tiberias and the surrounding area.…”

Glycolytic and chitinolytic activities of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) from diverse ecological habitats

“…Four colonies of the phlebotomine sand fly P. papatasi were maintained under identical conditions at a temperature of 26 ± 1°C and 80% R.H. The four colonies derived from progenitor flies caught in the following places in Israel: Neot Hakikar (352 m below sea level), a salt marsh oasis with lush vegetation in the southern Jordan Valley, where 10-12% of the reservoir host Psammomys obesus Cretzschmar, 1828, is infected with L. major (Wasserberg et al 2003, Müller andSchlein 2004); Kfar Adumim (350 m above sea level), 15 km east of Jerusalem, where L. major is absent, but P. papatasi are frequently found in houses (Schnur et al 2004) and Gilgal (253 m below sea level), an arid area 30 km north of Jericho in the Jordan Valley, which is endemic for L. major and up to 90% of P. obesus are infected (Schlein et al 1982, Schlein and. Two separate colonies were started from Gilgal, one from flies trapped at the beginning of the season (spring, mean annual rainfall is approximately 80 mm), when there are islands of green vegetation, and the other from flies at the end of the season (dry summer -autumn) when the vegetation is sparse.…”

Natural Leishmania infection of Phlebotomus sergenti (Diptera: Phlebotominae) in an endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Şanlıurfa, Turkey

“…This species is the confirmed vector of L. tropica in, Morocco (Guilvard et al, 1991;Ajaoud et al, 2013) (Maroli et al, 2012) and suspected vector in Syria, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Greece, Jordan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Libya and Yemen (Maroli et al, 2012). P. sergenti is exophilic and not attracted to humans in Israel (Schnur et al, 2004) whereas P. papatasi is highly endophilic and anthropophagic. On the other hand local P. sergenti populations in Ş anlıurfa are highly peridomestic and anthropophilic and both P. papatasi and P. sergenti populations are equally attracted to the light (Volf et al, 2002).…”