Evaluation of the Biodiversity and Distribution of Sand Flies and Tracking of Leishmania Major in Them in Central Iran Publisher Pubmed

Summary: Study finds 7.77% of sand flies in Central Iran carry Leishmania major, with Ph. papatasi most prevalent. This highlights the need for targeted control to reduce skin disease spread. #Leishmaniasis #PublicHealth

Badiezadeh P¹ ; Esmaeilifallah M^{1, 2, 3} ; Haddadniaa M¹ ; Abtahi SM¹
Source: International Journal of Environmental Health Research Published:2024

Abstract

Many areas of Iran are endemic regarding Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) as a parasitic disease transmitted by a female sand fly vector’s bite. The present study investigated the distribution of sand flies in Harand and Egieh in Isfahan province, Central Iran. Overall, 408 out of 1260 collected sand flies were identified morphologically, among which 353 and 55 were isolated from Harand and Egieh, respectively. Also, 66.4% and 33.6% of the sand flies were female and male, respectively. The most prevalent sand fly species were Phlebotomus papatasi (52%), followed by Ph. caucasicus (40.4%), Sergentomyia sintoni (4.9%), and Ph. kazeruni (0.7%). Among 180 molecularly-analyzed sand flies, 14 (7.77%) were found infected with L. major, with 9 out of 103 (8.73%) Ph. papatasi and 5 out of 75 (6.66%) Ph. caucasicus. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.