Determination of Fauna and Monthly Activity of Sandflies in the South of Baft District, Kerman Province in 2004

In the recent years, there has been an increasing rate of kala-azar disease in the south of Baft (Kerman/Iran). A survey on the records of admitted patients in the main hospital of Kerman city from 1993- 2003 showed that from the total of 36 cases of visceral Leishmaniasis, 12 cases (33/3%) were from south Baft. Since awareness of visceral Leishmaniasis vectors status has a key role in disease control and programming, this study was carried out in order to determine the fauna, monthly activity, host preference, and susceptibility of dominant species to 4% D.D.T insecticide. For this purpose, 1710 sandflies (17 species) were collected by sticky traps and aspiratory methods and based on the standards during their monthly activity. The results of the investigation showed that the activity of sand flies starts in April and ends in October with two Peaks in July and September. The predominant species of this area were P. papatasi (33.74%) and P. alexandri (29.82%) that were observed during all months of sandflies activity. According to the result of blood–fed index by ELISA test and using dog and human antiserums, P. papatasi (43/3%) and P. alexandri (33/3%) were positive to human blood. Diagnostic dosage test showed that P. papatasi is susceptible to D.D.T 4% with one hour exposure