Background: Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) due to Leishmania major is increasing in many parts of Iran. This disease originally is a disease found in gerbils. Leishmania parasites are transmitted by sandflies that live and breed in gerbil burrows. Nested PCR amplified Leishmania ITS1-5.8S rRNA gene in both main reservoir host “Rhombomys opimus” and in the “Phlebotomus papatasi” main vec...

The policy positions parties choose are central to both attracting voters and forming coalition governments. How then should parties choose positions to best represent voters? Laver and Sergenti show that in an agent-based model with boundedly rational actors a decision rule (Aggregator) that takes the mean policy position of its supporters is the best rule to achieve high congruence between vo...

Phlebotomine sand flies transmit Leishmania, phlebo-viruses and Bartonella to humans. A prominent gap in our knowledge of sand fly biology remains the ecology of their immature stages. Sand flies, unlike mosquitoes do not breed in water and only small numbers of larvae have been recovered from diverse habitats that provide stable temperatures, high humidity and decaying organic matter. We descr...

Data on leishmaniosis and its vectors (sand flies) in the Balearic Islands are scarce and restricted mainly to Majorca. According to the official data, the overall rate of human leishmaniosis (HL) is 0.7-3.5 cases per year/100,000 inhabitants (for the period 2001-2015), and the reported prevalence of canine leishmaniosis (CanL) varies between 0 and 45%, depending on the island and the dog popul...

In this investigation, the species composition of sand flies, and their seasonality, nocturnal activity, sex ratio, and resting site, for implementation of future control measures, were surveyed in eastern (Gonda and Basti) Uttar Pradesh, India. Adult sand flies (2,893) were collected from internal and external sites by sticky and light traps. The sand flies were captured using light traps hung...