Between October, 1997 and September, 1999 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais a study of seasonal variation of Lutzomyia longipalpis was carried out in three distinct areas of the municipality. Sand flies were sampled at 15-day intervals in three residences, in each of which two CDC light traps were installed, one indoors and the other in the peridomicile. A total of 397 sand flies were captured in...

background: the adult female sand flies (diptera: psychodidae) of the subgenus larroussius are important vectors of leishmania infantum (kinetoplastida: tripanosomatidae) in meshkinshahr district, northwest of iran. four phle­boto­mus ( larroussius ) species are present in this area, i.e. phlebotomus ( larroussius ) kandelakii , p. ( la. ) major , p. ( la. ) perfiliewi and p. ( la. ) tobbi . th...

Leishmania spp. are polarized single-celled eukaryotic parasites, the perpetuation of which relies on two other organisms they "use" as hosts. One of the Leishmania host organisms is a blood-feeding female sand fly, the second host being a mammal that acts as a blood source for the female sand fly. Leishmania-hosting sand flies transmit the metacyclic promastigote developmental stage to the mam...

We describe a technique to separate male and female pupae of sand flies. This has reduced the labour to separate flies after emergence and also allows the isolation of unmated adults for behavioural and physiological studies.

We report experimental infection and transmission of Leishmania tropica (Wright), by the blood-feeding sand fly Phlebotomus duboscqi (Neveu-Lemaire). Groups of laboratory-reared female sand flies that fed "naturally" on L. tropica-infected hamsters, or artificially, via membrane feeding device, on a suspension of L. tropica amastigotes, were dissected at progressive time points post-feeding. Ac...

The midgut microbial community in insect vectors of disease is crucial for an effective immune response against infection with various human and animal pathogens. Depending on the aspects of their development, insects can acquire microbes present in soil, water, and plants. Sand flies are major vectors of leishmaniasis, and shown to harbor a wide variety of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacte...

Reducing populations of phlebotomine sand flies in areas prevalent for human leishmaniases is of ongoing importance to United States military operations and civilian populations in endemic regions. However, not enough is known regarding the efficacy of Department of Defense-approved pesticides and equipment against sand flies; specifically, the potential for ultra-low volume (ULV) pesticide app...

A survey of potential vector sand flies was conducted in the neighboring suburban communities of Vake and Mtatsminda districts in an active focus of visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) in Tbilisi, Georgia. Using light and sticky-paper traps, 1,266 male and 1,179 female sand flies were collected during 2006-2008. Five Phlebotomus species of three subgenera were collected: Phlebotomus balcanicus Theodor ...