Transmission of Leishmania tropica was studied in 2 adjacent foci in Israel where vector populations differ. Only Phlebotomus sergenti was found infected with L. tropica in the southern focus; P. arabicus was the main vector in the northern focus. Rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) were incriminated as reservoir hosts in both foci. L. tropica strains from the northern focus isolated from sand flies, cutaneous leishmaniasis cases, and rock hyraxes were antigenically similar to L. major, and strains from the southern focus were typically L. tropica. Laboratory studies showed that P. arabicus is a competent vector of L. tropica, and P. sergenti is essentially refractory to L. tropica from the northern focus. Susceptibility of P. arabicus may be mediated by O glycoproteins on the luminal surface of its midgut. The 2 foci differ with respect to parasites and vectors, but increasing peridomestic rock hyrax populations are probably responsible for emergence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in both foci.

Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Desjeux P. The increase in risk factors for leishmaniasis worldwide. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2001;95:239–43. 10.1016/S0035-9203(01)90223-8 PubMed DOI

Jaffe CL, Baneth G, Abdeen ZA, Schlein Y, Warburg A. Leishmaniasis in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Trends Parasitol. 2004;20:328–32. 10.1016/j.pt.2004.05.001 PubMed DOI

Anis E, Leventhal A, Elkana Y, Wilamowski A, Pener H. Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Israel in the era of changing environment. Public Health Rev. 2001;29:37–47. PubMed

Jacobson RL, Eisenberger CL, Svobodova M, Baneth G, Sztern J, Carvalho J, et al. Outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern Israel. J Infect Dis. 2003;188:1065–73. 10.1086/378204 PubMed DOI

Schnur LF, Nasereddin A, Eisenberger CL, Jaffe CL, El Fari M, Azmi K, et al. Multifarious characterization of Leishmania tropica from a Judean desert focus, exposing intraspecific diversity and incriminating Phlebotomus sergenti as its vector. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2004;70:364–72. PubMed

Klaus S, Frankenburg S. Cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Middle East. Clin Dermatol. 1999;17:137–41. 10.1016/S0738-081X(99)00006-1 PubMed DOI

Kamhawi S, Modi GB, Pimenta PF, Rowton E, Sacks DL. The vectorial competence of Phlebotomus sergenti is specific for Leishmania tropica and is controlled by species-specific, lipophosphoglycan-mediated midgut attachment. Parasitology. 2000;121:25–33. 10.1017/S0031182099006125 PubMed DOI

Pimenta PF, Saraiva EM, Rowton E, Modi GB, Garraway LA, Beverley SM, et al. Evidence that the vectorial competence of phlebotomine sand flies for different species of Leishmania is controlled by structural polymorphisms in the surface lipophosphoglycan. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994;91:9155–6. 10.1073/pnas.91.19.9155 PubMed DOI PMC

Sadlova J, Hajmova M, Volf P. Phlebotomus (Adlerius) halepensis vector competence for Leishmania major and Le. tropica. Med Vet Entomol. 2003;17:244–50. 10.1046/j.1365-2915.2003.00434.x PubMed DOI

Kamhawi S, Ramalho-Ortigao M, Pham VM, Kumar S, Lawyer PG, Turco SJ, et al. A role for insect galectins in parasite survival. Cell. 2004;119:329–41. 10.1016/j.cell.2004.10.009 PubMed DOI

Warburg A, Tesh RB, McMahon-Pratt D. Studies on the attachment of Leishmania flagella to sand fly midgut epithelium. J Protozool. 1989;36:613–7. PubMed

Hernandez AG, Rodriguez N, Stojanovic D, Candelle D. The localization of a lectin-like component on the Leishmania cell surface. Mol Biol Rep. 1986;11:149–53. 10.1007/BF00419735 PubMed DOI

Svobodova M, Bates PA, Volf P. Detection of lectin activity in Leishmania promastigotes and amastigotes. Acta Trop. 1997;68:23–35. 10.1016/S0001-706X(97)00069-7 PubMed DOI

Jaffe CL, McMahon-Pratt D. Monoclonal antibodies specific for Leishmania tropica. I. Characterization of antigens associated with stage- and species-specific determinants. J Immunol. 1983;131:1987–93. PubMed

Schonian G, Schnur L, el Fari M, Oskam L, Kolesnikov AA, Sokolowska-Kohler W, et al. Genetic heterogeneity in the species Leishmania tropica revealed by different PCR-based methods. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2001;95:217–24. 10.1016/S0035-9203(01)90173-7 PubMed DOI

Schwenkenbecher JM, Wirth T, Schnur LF, Jaffe CL, Schallig H, Al-Jawabreh A, et al. Microsatellite analysis reveals genetic structure of Leishmania tropica. Int J Parasitol. 2006;36:237–46. 10.1016/j.ijpara.2005.09.010 PubMed DOI

Artemiev M. Revision of the sandflies of the subgenus Adlerius (Diptera Phlebotominae, Phlebotomus). Zool Zh. 1980;59:1177–93.

Lewis D. A taxonomic review of the genus Phlebotomus (Diptera: Psychodidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology. 1982;45:121–209.

Lewis D, Buttiker W. Insects of Saudi Arabia: the taxonomy and distribution of Saudi Arabian Phlebotomus sandflies (Diptera:Psychodidae). Fauna of Saudi Arabia. 1982;4:353–83.

Aransay AM, Scoulica E, Tselentis Y. Detection and identification of Leishmania DNA within naturally infected sand flies by seminested PCR on minicircle kinetoplastic DNA. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2000;66:1933–8. 10.1128/AEM.66.5.1933-1938.2000 PubMed DOI PMC

Schonian G, Nasereddin A, Dinse N, Schweynoch C, Schallig HD, Presber W, et al. PCR diagnosis and characterization of Leishmania in local and imported clinical samples. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2003;47:349–58. 10.1016/S0732-8893(03)00093-2 PubMed DOI

El Tai NO, El Fari M, Mauricio I, Miles MA, Oskam L, El Safi SH, et al. Leishmania donovani: intraspecific polymorphisms of Sudanese isolates revealed by PCR-based analyses and DNA sequencing. Exp Parasitol. 2001;97:35–44. 10.1006/expr.2001.4592 PubMed DOI

Schnur LF, Zuckerman A. Leishmanial excreted factor (EF) serotypes in Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1977;71:273–94. PubMed

Modi GB, Tesh RB. A simple technique for mass rearing Lutzomyia longipalpis and Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the laboratory. J Med Entomol. 1983;20:568–9. PubMed

Depaquit J, Ferte H, Leger N, Lefranc F, Alves-Pires C, Hanafi H, et al. ITS 2 sequences heterogeneity in Phlebotomus sergenti and Phlebotomus similis (Diptera, Psychodidae): possible consequences in their ability to transmit Leishmania tropica. Int J Parasitol. 2002;32:1123–31. 10.1016/S0020-7519(02)00088-7 PubMed DOI

Kravchenko V, Wasserberg G, Warburg A. Bionomics of phlebotomine sandflies in the Galilee focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in northern Israel. Med Vet Entomol. 2004;18:418–28. 10.1111/j.0269-283X.2004.00527.x PubMed DOI

Soares RP, Barron T, McCoy-Simandle K, Svobodova M, Warburg A, Turco SJ. Leishmania tropica: intraspecific polymorphisms in lipophosphoglycan correlate with transmission by different Phlebotomus species. Exp Parasitol. 2004;107:105–14. 10.1016/j.exppara.2004.05.001 PubMed DOI

Martin-Sanchez J, Gramiccia M, Pesson B, Morillas-Marquez F. Genetic polymorphism in sympatric species of the genus Phlebotomus, with special reference to Phlebotomus perniciosus and Phlebotomus longicuspis (Diptera, Phlebotomidae). Parasite. 2000;7:247–54. PubMed

Depaquit J, Ferte H, Leger N, Killick-Kendrick R, Rioux JA, Killick-Kendrick M, et al. Molecular systematics of the phlebotomine sandflies of the subgenus Paraphlebotomus (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotomus) based on ITS2 rDNA sequences. Hypotheses of dispersion and speciation. Insect Mol Biol. 2000;9:293–300. 10.1046/j.1365-2583.2000.00179.x PubMed DOI

Gebre-Michael T, Balkew M, Ali A, Ludovisi A, Gramiccia M. The isolation of Leishmania tropica and L. aethiopica from Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) species (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the Awash Valley, northeastern Ethiopia. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2004;98:64–70. 10.1016/S0035-9203(03)00008-7 PubMed DOI

Lawyer PG, Mebrahtu YB, Ngumbi PM, Mwanyumba P, Mbugua J, Kiilu G, et al. Phlebotomus guggisbergi (Diptera: Psychodidae), a vector of Leishmania tropica in Kenya. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1991;44:290–8. PubMed

Evangelista LG, Leite AC. Histochemical localization of N-acetyl-galactosamine in the midgut Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae). J Med Entomol. 2002;39:432–9. 10.1603/0022-2585-39.3.432 PubMed DOI

Walters LL. Leishmania differentiation in natural and unnatural sand fly hosts. J Eukaryot Microbiol. 1993;40:196–206. 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1993.tb04904.x PubMed DOI

Pavlicek T, Vivanti S, Fishelson F, Nevo E. Biodiversity and microsite divergence of insects at "Evolution Canyon," Nahal Oren, Mt. Carmel, Israel. II. Orthoptera: Acrididae. Journal of the Entomologic Research Society. 2002;4:25–39.

Grove SS. Leishmaniasis in South West Africa/Namibia to date. S Afr Med J. 1989;75:290–2. PubMed

Sang DK, Njeru WK, Ashford RW. A possible animal reservoir for Leishmania tropica s.l. in Kenya. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1992;86:311–2. PubMed

Svobodova M, Volf P, Votypka J. Experimental transmission of Leishmania tropica to hyraxes (Procavia capensis) by the bite of Phlebotomus arabicus. Microbes Infect. 2006;8:1691–4. 10.1016/j.micinf.2006.01.024 PubMed DOI

Fourie PB. The life-span of mammals: estimates for the dassie (Procavia capensis). J S Afr Vet Assoc. 1978;49:143–5. PubMed

Ashford RW. Leishmaniasis reservoirs and their significance in control. Clin Dermatol. 1996;14:523–32. 10.1016/0738-081X(96)00041-7 PubMed DOI

Ashford RW. The leishmaniases as emerging and reemerging zoonoses. Int J Parasitol. 2000;30:1269–81. 10.1016/S0020-7519(00)00136-3 PubMed DOI

Phlebotomus (Adlerius) simici NITZULESCU, 1931: first record in Austria and phylogenetic relationship with other Adlerius species

An integrative approach to identify sand fly vectors of leishmaniasis in Ethiopia by morphological and molecular techniques

Sand fly fauna of Crete and the description of Phlebotomus (Adlerius) creticus n. sp. (Diptera: Psychodidae)

Promastigote secretory gel from natural and unnatural sand fly vectors exacerbate Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica cutaneous leishmaniasis in mice

Serological Evaluation of Cutaneous Leishmania tropica Infection in Northern Israel

Lipophosphoglycan polymorphisms do not affect Leishmania amazonensis development in the permissive vectors Lutzomyia migonei and Lutzomyia longipalpis

Characterization of a midgut mucin-like glycoconjugate of Lutzomyia longipalpis with a potential role in Leishmania attachment

A Historical Overview of the Classification, Evolution, and Dispersion of Leishmania Parasites and Sandflies

The Development of Leishmania tropica in Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae): A Comparison of Colonies Differing in Geographical Origin and a Gregarine Coinfection

Genetics of host response to Leishmania tropica in mice - different control of skin pathology, chemokine reaction, and invasion into spleen and liver

Salivary gland transcriptomes and proteomes of Phlebotomus tobbi and Phlebotomus sergenti, vectors of leishmaniasis

Analysis of salivary transcripts and antigens of the sand fly Phlebotomus arabicus

A lipophosphoglycan-independent development of Leishmania in permissive sand flies