Leishmania is a genus of the family Trypanosomatidae that unites obligatory parasitic flagellates causing a variety of vector-borne diseases collectively called leishmaniasis. The symptoms range from relatively innocuous skin lesions to complete failures of visceral organs. The disease is exacerbated if a parasite harbors Leishmania RNA viruses (LRVs) of the family Pseudototiviridae. Screening a novel isolate of L. braziliensis, we revealed that it possesses not a toti-, but a bunyavirus of the family Leishbuviridae. To the best of our knowledge, this is a very first discovery of a bunyavirus infecting a representative of the Leishmania subgenus Viannia. We suggest that these viruses may serve as potential factors of virulence in American leishmaniasis and encourage researchers to test leishmanial strains for the presence of not only LRVs, but also other RNA viruses.

• MeSH
• Bunyaviridae classification   genetics   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Leishmania braziliensis * genetics   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Orthobunyavirus genetics   classification   isolation & purification   physiology   MeSH
• RNA Viruses genetics   classification   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

BACKGROUND: Sand fly females require a blood meal to develop eggs. The size of the blood meal is crucial for fecundity and affects the dose of pathogens acquired by females when feeding on infected hosts or during experimental membrane-feeding. METHODS: Under standard laboratory conditions, we compared blood meal volumes taken by females of ten sand fly species from four genera: Phlebotomus, Lutzomyia, Migonomyia, and Sergentomyia. The amount of ingested blood was determined using a haemoglobin assay. Additionally, we weighed unfed sand flies to calculate the ratio between body weight and blood meal weight. RESULTS: The mean blood meal volume ingested by sand fly females ranged from 0.47 to 1.01 µl. Five species, Phlebotomus papatasi, P. duboscqi, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Sergentomyia minuta, and S. schwetzi, consumed about double the blood meal size compared to Migonomyia migonei. The mean body weight of females ranged from 0.183 mg in S. minuta to 0.369 mg in P. duboscqi. In males, the mean body weight ranged from 0.106 mg in M. migonei to 0.242 mg in P. duboscqi. Males were always lighter than females, with the male-to-female weight ratio ranging from 75% (in Phlebotomus argentipes) to 52% (in Phlebotomus tobbi). CONCLUSIONS: Females of most species took a blood meal 2.25-3.05 times their body weight. Notably, the relatively tiny females of P. argentipes consumed blood meals 3.34 times their body weight. The highest (Mbl/Mf) ratios were found in both Sergentomyia species studied; females of S. minuta and S. schwetzi took blood meals 4.5-5 times their body weight. This parameter is substantially higher than that reported for mosquitoes and biting midges.

• Keywords
• Lutzomyia, Phlebotomus, Sergentomyia, Blood meal, Haemoglobin, Prediuresis,
• MeSH
• Blood MeSH
• Phlebotomus physiology   MeSH
• Psychodidae * physiology   MeSH
• Feeding Behavior * MeSH
• Body Weight * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

In Uzbekistan, the number of reported leishmaniasis cases is rising at the alarming rate. In this work, we studied the phlebotomine sand fly (Diptera: Phlebotominae) diversity in the foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Surxondaryo Region of Uzbekistan and compared it with the data obtained for the same area 50 years ago, when infection prevalence was reportedly low. We found that the implicated vector for zoonotic leishmaniasis, P. papatasi, remained eudominant; the proportion of implicated anthroponotic leishmaniasis vector, P. sergenti, rose significantly from averaged 5.4 to 41.4%; Phlebotomus alexandri, a suspected visceral leishmaniasis vector, was eudominant at two sites, and a second suspected vector for this disease, P. longiductus, was newly recorded in the region. We conclude that the increase in the documented cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Surxondaryo Region of Uzbekistan may be connected to the changes in fauna of sand flies vectoring Leishmania spp.

• Keywords
• Diversity, Leishmania, Phlebotomus,
• MeSH
• Insect Vectors MeSH
• Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous * epidemiology   MeSH
• Leishmaniasis, Visceral * epidemiology   MeSH
• Phlebotomus * MeSH
• Psychodidae * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Uzbekistan epidemiology   MeSH

Parasites of the genus Porcisia, together with the genus Endotrypanum, form a sister clade to the species-rich and medically important genus Leishmania. Both Porcisia species, P. hertigi and P. deanei, are dixenous parasites of Neotropical porcupines. Almost 50 years after their first discovery, knowledge of their life cycle remains poor and their insect vectors are unknown. Because competent vectors of their closest phylogenetic relatives, genera Endotrypanum and Leishmania, are phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) and/or biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), we examined here the potential of both sand flies and biting midges to transmit Porcisia parasites. The insects (Lutzomyia longipalpis, L. migonei and Culicoides sonorensis) were exposed to parasites through the chicken skin membrane and dissected at various time intervals post bloodmeal. Potentially infected females were also allowed to feed on the ears of anaesthetized BALB/c mice and the presence of parasite DNA was subsequently confirmed in the mice by PCR. Porcisia hertigi did not survive defecation in L. longipalpis or L. migonei, suggesting that these sand fly species are unlikely to serve as natural vectors of this parasite. Similarly, P. hertigi infections were lost in Culicoides midges. In contrast, mature P. deanei infections developed in 51-61% of L. longipalpis females, 7.3% of L. migonei females and 7.7% of Culicoides sonorensis females. In all three vector species, P. deanei colonized predominantly Malpighian tubules and produced metacyclic infective forms. Transmission of P. daenei to BALB/c mice was demonstrated via the prediuresis of L. longipalpis females. This mode of transmission, as well the colonization of Malpighian tubules as the dominant tissue of the vector, is unique among trypanosomatids. In conclusion, we demonstrated the vector competence of L. longipalpis for P. deanei but not for P. hertigi, and further studies are needed to evaluate competence of other Neotropical vectors for these neglected parasites.

• Keywords
• Culicoides, Lutzomyia, Malpighian tubules, Porcisia deanei, Porcisia hertigi, contaminative transmission, prediuresis,
• MeSH
• Phylogeny MeSH
• Insect Vectors MeSH
• Leishmania * MeSH
• Mice MeSH
• Psychodidae * MeSH
• Life Cycle Stages MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Mice MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH

An entomological survey at rural and cavernicolous localities in four provinces in southern Thailand provided 155 blood-fed females of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) that were identified based on morphological characters as Idiophlebotomus asperulus (n = 19), Phlebotomus stantoni (n = 4), P. argentipes (n = 3), Sergentomyia anodontis (n = 20), S. barraudi (n = 9), S. hamidi (n = 23), S. hodgsoni (n = 4), S. hodgsoni hodgsoni (n = 32), S. indica (n = 5), S. iyengari (n = 2), S. khawi (n = 17), S. silvatica (n = 11) and Sergentomyia sp. (n = 6). The dominant species in this study was S. hodgsoni hodgsoni, which was collected specifically in a Buddha cave. Screening for DNA of parasitic protozoans revealed eight specimens (5.16%) of four species (S. barraudi, S. indica, S. khawi and Id. asperulus) positive for Trypanosoma sp., while no Leishmania spp. DNA was detected. Blood meals of engorged females were identified by PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay on a fragment of cytochrome b (cyt b) gene with a success rate 36%, humans, dogs, and rats being determined as sources of blood. Bloodmeal analysis of two Trypanopsoma-positive females (S. barraudi and Sergentomyia sp.) identified blood from dogs and humans, respectively. Our findings indicate that S. barraudi, S. indica, S. khawi and Id. asperulus may be incriminated in circulation of detected Trypanosoma spp.

• Keywords
• Phlebotomus, Sergentomyia, Trypanosoma sp., blood meal source, sand flies,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH