BACKGROUND Stigmaeids mites have been recorded only on Phlebotominae sand flies up to now. Five species of Eustigmaeus, and three of Stigmaeus were reported on infested sandflies in different country up to the present. METHODS Sand flies collection was done using CDC light trap and sticky paper. The mites were isolated from infested specimens, mounted in Puri's medium and identified using rel...

a brief resume of the events leading up to them. At an informal discussion between Majors II. W. Acton and R. Knowles and Dr. Napier in 1922 it was resolved that the difficult and important problem of kala-azar transmission should be the first to be investigated by the various workers at the School who were in a position to undertake this work. It was shewn by Acton and Knowles (1914) in their ...

We report the 1st collection of Phlebotomus sergenti, a vector of the cutaneous and visceralizing forms of Leishmania tropica, from southern Egypt. Four female and 1 male P. sergenti were collected from unlit Centers for Disease Control light traps placed in a village on the Nile River, 6 km north of Aswan, Egypt, during studies conducted from 1998 to 1999. This extends the known distribution o...

The effects of environmental conditions on population trends of plant-parasitic nematodes were studied in experimental plots of five wheatgrasses in the western Utah desert. In a 3-year (1984-86) field study, soil water and temperature affected the population trends of the ectoparasites, Tylenchorhynchus acutoides and Xiphinema americanum, and the migratory endoparasite, Pratylenchus neglectus,...

A Pratylenchus neglectus population from lltah (UT3) was more virulent to Lahontan alfalfa than other P. neglectus populations from Utah (UT1, UT2) and Wyoming (WY). All alfalfa plants survived at 24 +/- 3 C when inoculated with WY, UT1, or UT2 at initial populations (Pi) of 500, 1,000, and 5,000 nematodes per plant. At Pi 10,000 with WY, UT1, or UT2, plant mortality was 15, 15, and 20%, respec...

BACKGROUND The saliva of sand flies strongly enhances the infectivity of Leishmania in mice. Additionally, pre-exposure to saliva can protect mice from disease progression probably through the induction of a cellular immune response. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We analysed the cellular immune response against the saliva of Phlebotomus papatasi in humans and defined the phenotypic character...

An entomological investigation performed in 2013 covering different bio-geographical areas varying from humid in the north to the arid in the center showed that sand flies of the subgenus Larroussius including Phlebotomus perniciosus, Phlebotomus perfiliewi, and Phlebotomus longicuspis are abundant and widely distributed in Tunisia. A total of 3992 collected and pooled with up to 30 specimens p...

To editor: Toscana Virus belongs to the genus Phleobovirus, family Bunyaviridae. They are transmitted in the Mediterranean area by Phlebotomus perniciosus and Phlebotomus perfiliewi sandflies (Braito et al., 1997). Toscana virus (TOSV) was first isolated in 1971 from Phlebotomus perniciosus in Monte Argentario (Grosseto, Tuscany) (Verani et al., 1982). Sandflyborne TOSV was recognized as a lead...

During summer 2007, a total of 785 phlebotomine flies were trapped in northern Algeria, identified morphologically, organised as monospecific pools and tested for the presence of phlebovirus RNA using degenerate primers. Three pools were positive, and the corresponding PCR products were cloned and sequenced. Viral sequences corresponding to two phleboviruses distinct from each other were detect...