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Establishment of a mass screening method of sand fly vectors for Leishmania infection by molecular biological methods

Abstract:

Surveillance of the prevalence of Leishmania and its vector, sand fly species, in endemic and surrounding areas is important for pbkp_rediction of the risk and expansion of leishmaniasis. In this study, a method for the mass screening of sand flies for Leishmania infection was established. This method was applied to 319 field-captured specimens, and 5 positive sand flies were detected. Sand fly species were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the18S rRNA gene, and all the positive flies were Lu. hartmanni. Furthermore, cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene sequence analyses identified all the parasites as Endotrypanum species including a probable novel species. Because the method requires minimum effort and can process a large number of samples at once, it will be a powerful tool for studying the epidemiology of leishmaniasis. Copyright © 2007 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.