Leishmaniases are wide spread diseases transmitted to their vertebrate host by infected sand fly. The saliva from these arthropods contains a vast repertoire of pharmacologically active molecules that hampers the host's haemostatic, inflammatory and immune responses. The early interactions between Leishmania and the host's immune response are closely linked to disease evolution or protection ag...

A thorough understanding of the transmission mechanism of any infectious agent is crucial to implementing an effective intervention strategy. Here, our current understanding of the mechanisms that Leishmania parasites use to ensure their transmission from sand fly vectors by bite is reviewed. The most important mechanism is the creation of a "blocked fly" resulting from the secretion of promast...

The surveillance of prevalent Leishmania and sand fly species in endemic areas is important for prediction of the risk and expansion of leishmaniasis. In this study, we developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method for detection of Leishmania minicircle DNA within individual sand flies. Using this method, we detected minicircle DNA in 6 (3.3%) of 183 sand flies, while 5 (3.5%) of 143...

Recently, in several areas of the Middle East, a sharp increase of cutaneous leishmaniasis was observed in suburbs of larger towns including Jerusalem. In some of these areas, poor housing conditions and unsuitable waste management was suspected to provide ideal conditions for sand fly breeding, but hard data on diurnal resting sites and breeding habitats of most sand fly species are scant. In ...

BACKGROUND During its developmental cycle within the sand fly vector, Leishmania must survive an early proteolytic attack, escape the peritrophic matrix, and then adhere to the midgut epithelia in order to prevent excretion with remnants of the blood meal. These three steps are critical for the establishment of an infection within the vector and are linked to interactions controlling species-sp...

Psychodiella sergenti is a recently described specific pathogen of the sand fly Phlebotomus sergenti, the main vector of Leishmania tropica. The aim of this study was to examine the life cycle of Ps. sergenti in various developmental stages of the sand fly host. The microscopical methods used include scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and light microscopy of native p...

Sand fly salivary proteins are on the spotlight to become vaccine candidates against leishmaniasis and to markers of exposure to sand fly bites due to the host immune responses they elicit. Working with the whole salivary homogenate entails serious drawbacks such as the need for maintaining sand fly colonies and the laborious task of glands dissection. In order to overcome these difficulties, p...

The stage-regulated HASPB and SHERP proteins of Leishmania major are predominantly expressed in cultured metacyclic parasites that are competent for macrophage uptake and survival. The role of these proteins in parasite development in the sand fly vector has not been explored, however. Here, we confirm that expression of HASPB is detected only in vector metacyclic stages, correlating with the e...

Rodent baits containing systemic insecticides are potential tools to interrupt the cycle of transmission of Leishmania parasites by killing sand flies that take bloodmeals from rodents as adults. Bio-indicators that can be used in conjunction with rodent-targeted sand fly control methods also have been developed to demonstrate that the insecticide treatments are reaching the targeted life stage...

BACKGROUND Bangladesh, India and Nepal are working towards the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) by 2015. In 2005 the World Health Organization/Training in Tropical Diseases launched an implementation research programme to support integrated vector management for the elimination of VL from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The programme is conducted in different phases, from proof-of-concep...