BACKGROUND Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis is endemic in the Mediterranean Basin, where the dog is the main reservoir host. The disease's causative agent, Leishmania infantum, is transmitted by blood-feeding female sandflies. This paper reports an integrative study of canine leishmaniasis in a region of France spanning the southwest Massif Central and the northeast Pyrenees, where the vectors a...

background: elongation factor-1, a conserved nuclear protein coding gene was used to identify iranian sandfly species. the phlebotomine sandfies are the vectors of the parasitic protozoan leishmania, the causative agents of leishmaniasis, in iran. methods: seven sets of primers were tried. pcr amplification of elongation factor-1 was successfully achieved for all 14 species of iranian sandfli...

an investigation was carried out in ahar district, (a new focus of visceral leishmaniasis), eastern azerbaijan, north-west of iran in order to determine the vector(s) of the disease, during the summer of 2003 sand-flies were collected using sticky papers, cdc light traps and aspirators. all of the collected sand-flies were dissected in a drop of normal saline for surveying of promastigotes. hea...

Phlebotomus perniciosus is one of the major vectors of Leishmania infantum in the Mediterranean basin. The aim of this work was (i) to provide information about abundance and temporal dynamics of this Larroussius species in a hot spot area of visceral leishmaniasis in Tunisia, (ii) to detect L. infantum DNA in wild caught female sandflies and (iii) to measure Phlebotomus perniciosus infection r...

A new fossil species of phlebotomine sandflies is described from Dominican amber based in one specimen. Pintomyia (Pifanomyia) paleotrichia sp. nov. is distinguished from the other extant and extinct species by aspects of paramere and the basal tuft of bristles in the gonocoxite.

Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease caused by predominantly vectorborne Leishmania spp. In the United States, canine visceral leishmaniasis is common among hounds, and L. infantum vertical transmission among hounds has been confirmed. We found that L. infantum from hounds remains infective in sandflies, underscoring the risk for human exposure by vectorborne transmission.

The aims of the study were to determine the blood feeding preferences of sandflies and to identify species of Leishmania that infected phlebotomines in Caxias, Maranhão, Brazil, an area that is highly endemic for leishmaniasis. Sandflies were captured in light traps located in the peridomiciliary environments of randomly selected houses in urban and rural settings between 1800 and 0600 hours on...