background: cutaneous leishmaniasis due to leishmania major has become a hot topic in iran. the objective of this study was to determine some ecological aspects of sand flies in the study area. methods: sand flies were collected biweekly from indoors and outdoors fixed places in the selected villages, using 30 sticky paper traps from the beginning to the end of the active season of 2006 in kerm...

b a ckground: cutaneous leishmaniasis due to leishmania major is a serious and increasing problem affecting manyrural areas of 17 out of 31 provinces in iran. little is known about sand fly fauna and leishmaniases in eastern iran and no study has been carried out in sarbisheh county. the aim of this study was to determine sand flies composi- tion and probable leishmania infection to find the pr...

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...

The identification of breeding sites of sand flies is of great epidemiological interest. A soil emergence trap for investigating potential sand fly breeding sites is described. The trap was tested in two rural areas in the Mogi Guaçu River Valley where the American cutaneous leishmaniasis is an endemic disease. Seventy-three sand fly individuals of three species, Lutzomyia intermedia s. l., L. ...

BACKGROUND Sand fly species able to support the survival of the protozoan parasite Leishmania have been classified as permissive or specific, based upon their ability to support a wide or limited range of strains and/or species. Studies of a limited number of fly/parasite species combinations have implicated parasite surface molecules in this process and here we provide further evidence in supp...

American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) transmission patterns have been increasingly associated with domestic and peridomestic environments. Here, we present results from an epidemiological survey of 94 people from 24 households in Trinidad de Las Minas, western Panama. We studied the role of sand fly abundance, housing quality, peridomicile landscape matrix, and vegetation structure on shaping ...

Sugar meals of plant origin are an important component of the sand fly diet. We show that sugar solution baits have potential as vehicles for phlebotomine sand fly control. In the laboratory, adult Phlebotomus duboscqi Neveu-Lemaire and Sergentomyia schwetzi (Adler, Theodor, and Parrot) that have consumed an aqueous sucrose solution containing Bacillus sphaericus Neide toxins and are subsequent...

Leishmania parasites are transmitted to vertebrate hosts by female phlebotomine sand flies as they bloodfeed by lacerating the upper capillaries of the dermis with their barbed mouthparts. In the sand fly midgut secreted proteophosphoglycans from Leishmania form a biological plug known as the promastigote secretory gel (PSG), which blocks the gut and facilitates the regurgitation of infective p...

Yellow-related proteins (YRPs) present in sand fly saliva act as affinity binders of bioamines, and help the fly to complete a bloodmeal by scavenging the physiological signals of damaged cells. They are also the main antigens in sand fly saliva and their recombinant form is used as a marker of host exposure to sand flies. Moreover, several salivary proteins and plasmids coding these proteins i...

background: sand fly saliva helps parasite establishment and induce immune responses in vertebrate hosts. in the current study, we investigated the modulation of phlebotomus papatasi salivary gland antigen expression by sea­sonal and biological factors. methods: sand flies were grouped according to physiological stages such as unfed, fed, semi-gravid, gravid, parous, nulliparous, infected or no...