Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is prevalent in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and previous research has consistently documented the etiologic agent to be Leishmania major. We report the first isolation of Leishmania tropica from human cases of CL in a Northern Sinai community bordering Palestine. Parasite culturing, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gene sequencing, and restriction fragmen...

The two Old World genera, Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia, were both recorded in southern Anatolia in Turkey. Phlebotomus species predominated and comprised about 93% of the entire collection (3,172 specimens). Out of the sixteen species identified, two belonged to the genus Sergentomyia: S. dentata and S. theodori. The remaining fourteen species in the genus Phlebotomus were grouped under four su...

The feeding time for sand fly females was determined experimentally by feeding of thirty females (3-5 days-old) sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi on different blood sources (human, pigeon, hamster and blab C mice). Mean feeding time was longest on blab C mice, 8.55 minutes, followed by hamster, 7.05 minutes, then pigeon, 4.84minutes, and finally human, 4.69 minutes. Significant difference was obser...

Phlebotomus papatasi is an important vector of L. major in Iran. P. papatasi was collected from peridomestic animal shelters, inside and around the houses and also the nearby burrows of the gerbil reservoir hosts, Rhombomys opimus, in several provinces in Iran. Mitochondrial Cytochrome b (Cyt b) of sandflies, which is a maternally-inherited gene marker, was used to see if there is any "isolatio...

Apyrases are enzymes that hydrolyze nucleotide di- and triphosphates to orthophosphate and mononucleotides. At least two families of enzymes, belonging to the 5'-nucleotidase and to the actin/heat shock 70/sugar kinase superfamily, have evolved independently to serve the apyrase reaction. Both families require either Ca(2+) or Mg(2+) for their action. A novel apyrase enzyme sequence, with no ho...

1School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research; 2Isfahan Training and Health Research Centre; 4Bandar Abbas Training and Health Research Centre; 5Yazd Training and Health Research Centre; Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 3Department of Public Health, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Islamic Republic of Iran. ABSTRACT An...

The distribution of Phlebotomus papatasi in Southwest Asia is thought to be highly dependent on temperature and relative humidity. A discriminant analysis model based on weather data and reported vector surveys was developed to predict the seasonal and geographic distribution of P. papatasi in this region. To simulate global warming, temperature values for 115 weather stations were increased by...

BACKGROUND Leishmania major complex is the main causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in the Old World. Phlebotomus papatasi and Phlebotomus duboscqi are recognized vectors of L. major complex in Northern and Southern Sahara, respectively. In Mali, ZCL due to L. major is an emerging public health problem, with several cases reported from different parts of the country. The m...