Sandflies in an urban area of transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in midwest Brazil

Abstract

The phlebotomine fauna of Campo Grande city, capital of Mato Grosso do Sul state in Brazil, an endemic area for visceral leishmaniasis, has been thoroughly investigated, but all the insect collections were undertaken with automatic light traps. The present study sought to investigate the fauna in this city using Shannon and Disney traps, having human beings and hamsters, respectively, as bait. Both types of traps were installed in forest fragment and peridomiciliary areas in the period from 2007 to 2009. The phlebotomine females were analyzed by PCR for Leishmania identification. Lutzomyia longipalpis was the only species collected in the peridomiciles and rendered a total of 574 specimens with a 5.2:1 male:female ratio. A total of eight species were attracted to the two traps (one of each type) installed in the forest fragment, including: Bichromomyia flaviscutellata, Evandromyia bourrouli, Evandromyia lenti, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Nyssomyia whitmani, Pintomyia christenseni, Psathyromyia bigeniculata, and Sciopemyia sordellii. A total of 143 specimens were collected, Bi. flaviscutellata accounting for 81% and Lu. longipalpis for 1.4% of them. In one female of Lu. longipalpis collected in a Disney trap installed in a peridomicile, Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum DNA was found, thus strengthening the hypothesis that the transmission of leishmaniasis is in fact occurring in the anthropic environment.

Spatiotemporal analysis and environmental risk factors of visceral leishmaniasis in an urban setting in São Paulo State, Brazil

“…However, the disease was not limited to the periphery and a hotspot was found near the downtown area (Fig. 6, area B), similar to others cities in São Paulo state and Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul state [33, 46]. In cities of Teresina, São Luis and Aracaju, in the northeast of Brazil, outbreaks of visceral leishmaniasis were related to the rapid and chaotic urban growth in areas surrounded by slums as a consequence of intensive migratory flow [47, 48].…”

Multiscale environmental determinants of Leishmania vectors in the urban-rural context

“…Regarding the association with rural and forest landscapes, Ny. whitmani in some regions of Brazil are still not urbanized or are in process of urbanization as in the present study [ 64 – 67 ], while in other regions the species is well adapted to urban environments. However, this species may actually represent a complex of cryptic species with different degrees of adaptation to anthropized environments [ 68 , 69 ].…”

“…whitmani related to the periurban, more relatively homogeneous landscape, by ZINB modeling only show association in the count component at the mesoscale with vegetation coverage and garbage collection and at the microscale with two sources of blood, poultry and humans. Therefore, [64][65][66][67], while in other regions the species is well adapted to urban environments. However, this species may actually represent a complex of cryptic species with different degrees of adaptation to anthropized environments [68,69].…”

Sex-Related Differences in Immune Response and Symptomatic Manifestations to Infection with Leishmania Species

“…Data from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, have consistently demonstrated a male bias in VL [60, 62, 92]. Lutzomyia longipalpis , the sand fly vector of L. infantum , is peridomestic, and males and females have similar rates of infection [60, 62, 93]. However, after the age of ten, males were more likely to develop symptomatic disease than females.…”