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Objective:To determine both the distribution and the ecological characteristics of sand flies in Golestan Province, northeast of Iran in 2016.Methods:In this study, 34 villages were selected based on their geographical conditions. Sticky paper traps were used for collecting the sand flies. Sampling was carried out in each of villages from May to November. In each village, 60 traps for indoors and 60 for outdoors were monthly installed. The species of all collected sand flies were determined using approved morphological keys. Pearson coefficient correlation was used to find the relationship between the number of collected Phlebotomus papatasi from different villages and incidence rate of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis as well as the number of positive cases of the disease. The altitude of the studied villages was extracted from digital elevation model of the area using GIS and vegetation cover density index of the province was extracted from Modis satellite imagery and distribution map of sand flies drown up.Results:Overall, 5 428 sand flies were collected and identified, belonging to 18 species. Phlebotomus wenyoni was reported for the first time from the area in this study. The frequency of sand flies in the villages located in northeast of the Golestan province (the plateau area, lower altitude, arid and semi-arid climates, and lower vegetation cover density), were more than other villages in this province. There was a significant correlation between the number of collected Phlebotomus papatasi and incidence rate of the zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis cases in different villages (r=0.837, P=0.019) as well as the number of positive cases of the disease (r=0.688, P<0.001).Conclusions:In the northeaster areas of Golestan Province which is known as the endemic foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, the abundance of sand flies were more and the conditions for their growth and development were more appropriate.
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Objective:To represent a new geographical record, Phlebotomus (Adlerius) kabulensis (P. kabulensis), which is suspected to be a potential vector of visceral leishmaniasis.Methods:For the first time, P. kabulensis specimens were collected using the sticky paper traps method in outdoor places in mountainous areas with vegetation coverage of three provinces in Iran. Identification of males was based on ecological, morphological, morphometric and molecular (mtDNA cytochrome b gene sequences) criteria. Generally, males have two ascoids on the 8Results:Morphometric measurement revealed that P. kabulensis specimens were the same as compared with seven other morphological characters in three provinces of the country but lengths of the coxite were significantly different. The PCR result of the cytochrome b (Cyt b)-mtDNA fragment shows 550-bp length, with its special nucleotide arrangement. The male and female of P. kabulensis were newly discovered members of the subgenus Adlerius from Iran. Initial DNA analysis indicated how distinct this species is.Conclusions:The results show that the P. kabulensis female will be identified by comparing with other Adlerius female groups regarding its morphometric characters and molecular sequencing.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study agents of animal wound myiasis in various geographical districts of Fars province.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study has been done in Fars province, located in the southern part of Iran. Sums of 10 358 domestic animals have been visited from April 2011 to March 2012. The infected wounds in any parts of animal body were sampled by means of forceps.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>About 61% of all animal wound myiasis were caused by larvae of Wohlfahrtia magnifica. The most wound myiasis cases due to this species occurred in central part of Fars province. There wasn't any significant difference between sheep and goat in infestation with myiasis (P>0.05). The infestation rate of myiasis in cattle community was 0.86%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The infestation rate of livestock was lower than other works in Iran and some other countries like Saudi Arabia. Chrysomya bezziana has been mentioned as main myiasis agent in Iran. But in this study it cleared that similarly to some European countries, the common animal myiasis agent in Iran is Wohlfahrtia magnifica. Introducing new species as principal agent for myiasis can help public health and animal husbandry policy makers to prepare sufficient and effective control and/or preventive measures for this disease.</p>
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Leishmaniasis is one of the most important health problems in many areas of Iran. This study aimed to identify leishmania species in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis using PCR teqnique based on sequencing ITS1 primers in villages of the central county of Qom province. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 169 patients who with leishmaniosis, based on clinical and laboratory confirmation treated and were followed in health center of Qomrood in 2010. This data was recorded in epidemiologic data forms. The DNA was extracted by KIAGEN kits. The extracted DNA was exploited to identify the parasite by PCR technique. The data were analyzed by SPSS-17 software. Chi square and Fisher's exact test were used for the evaluation of the hypothesis. The PCR result confirmed the parasite positive slides and obtained bands from these slides were seen in the range of 350 bp which are expected band for the leishmania major parasite. The most frequent age group was above 15 years old [71.5%]. Hands and feet were the most common sites of ulcer [78.8%]. 19.5 of patients had 3 ulcers and more. Highest disease prevalence was observed in months October, December and November. The PCR results illustrated that the prevalent CL in the central county of Qom province is Zoonotic type [ZCL], and the agent of disease is leishmania major parasite. In conclusion, identification of the disease and parasite type can help the health officials to make appropriate strategies for its prevention and control
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Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a major health problem in many parts of Iran and its main foci are in various parts of the country. This study was carried out with the intention of examining the species composition of the possible disease reservoirs in the cutaneous leishmaniasis focus in the selected villages of central county of Qom province. Study was done as a descriptive, cross-sectional study on rodents [possible leishmaniasis reservoirs] in the selected rural areas of Qomrood and Ghanavat located in central parts of Qom province in 2010. In this research, a total of 46 small rodents were hunted by live traps from 5 selected villages. A Smear prepared from auricle or suspicious lesions on skin, and after Giemsa staining, the smears were examined for the presence of leishman's bodies. After extracting DNA from positive smears, PCR technique was exploited to determine the parasite species. A total 46 small mammals were hunted and identified by the authentic keys. They included 31 rodents [67.4%] were Meriones libycus, 8 [17.4%] Allactaga elater, 4 [8.7%] Mus musculus, 2 [4.3%] Nesokia indica and one [2.7%] Hemiechinus auritus. The results of PCR demonstrated that 3.7% of M. libycus rodents were infected by Leishmania major. The results of this study showed that epidemic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the central county of Qom province was zoonotic and its reservoir was species of rodents. Therefore, determining disease type and its reservoir can help health care authorities to adopt appropriate strategies for prevention and control of the disease in this area
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Animals , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Disease Reservoirs , Cross-Sectional Studies , RodentiaABSTRACT
Bait-trapping appears to be a generally useful method of studying fly populations. The aim of this study was to construct a new adult flytrap by some modifications in former versions and to evaluate its applicability in a subtropical zone in southern Iran. The traps were constructed with modification by adding some equipment to a polyethylene container [18× 20× 33 cm] with lid. The fresh sheep meat was used as bait. Totally 27 adult modified traps were made and tested for their efficacies to attract adult flies. The experiment was carried out in a range of different topographic areas of Fars Province during June 2010. The traps were able to attract various groups of adult flies belonging to families of: Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, and Faniidae. The species of Calliphora vicina [Diptera: Calliphoridae], Sarcophaga argyrostoma [Diptera: Sarcophagidae] and Musca domestica [Diptera: Muscidae] include the majority of the flies collected by this sheep-meat baited trap. This adult flytrap can be recommended for routine field sampling to study diversity and population dynamics of flies where conducting of daily collection is difficult
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OBJECTIVE@#To investigate species composition, density, accumulated degree-day and diversity of sand flies during April to October 2010 in Azarshahr district, a new focus of visceral leishmaniasis in north western Iran.@*METHODS@#Sand flies were collected using sticky traps biweekly and were stored in 96% ethanol. All specimens were mounted in Puri's medium for species identification using valid keys of sandflies. The density was calculated by the formula: number of specimens/m(2) of sticky traps and number of specimens/number of traps. Degree-day was calculated as follows: (Maximum temperature + Minimum temperature)/2-Minimum threshold. Diversity indices of the collected sand flies within different villages were estimated by the Shannon-weaver formula ( H'=∑i=1sPilog(e)Pi).@*RESULTS@#Totally 5 557 specimens comprising 16 Species (14 Phlebotomus, and 2 Sergentomyia) were indentified. The activity of the species extended from April to October. Common sand-flies in resting places were Phlebotomus papatasi, Phlebotomus sergenti and Phlebotomus mongolensis. The monthly average density was 37.6, 41.1, 40.23, 30.38 and 30.67 for Almalodash, Jaragil, Segaiesh, Amirdizaj and Germezgol villages, respectively. Accumulated degree-day from early January to late May was approximately 289 degree days. The minimum threshold temperature for calculating of accumulated degree-day was 17.32°. According on the Shannon-weaver (H'), diversity of sand flies within area study were estimated as 0.917, 1.867, 1.339, 1.673, and 1.562 in Almalodash, Jaragil, Segaiesh, Amirdizaj and Germezgol villages, respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#This study is the first detailed research in terms of species composition, density, accumulated degree-day and diversity of sand flies in an endemic focus of visceral leishamaniasis in Azarshahr district. The population dynamics of sand flies in Azarshahr district were greatly affected by climatic factors. According to this study the highest activity of the collected sand fly species occurs at the teritary week of August. It could help health authorities to predicate period of maximum risk of visceral leishamaniasis transmission and implement control program.
Subject(s)
Animals , Biodiversity , Insect Vectors , Classification , Iran , Leishmania donovani , Physiology , Leishmaniasis, Visceral , Epidemiology , Parasitology , Population Dynamics , Psychodidae , Classification , Seasons , TemperatureABSTRACT
Leishmaniasis is a Zoonotic disease that is transmited by sandfly to human. This study were carried out in order to demonstrate some ecological characters of leishmaniasis vectors in Kalaleh district, Golestan province Iran, during 2006-07. In present study 6 villages were selected. Sandfly were collected by sticky traps. 3 places were sampled in each village and in each places 20 traps were installed. After sampling collection, we used diagnostic criteria to identify the Sandflies, also confirmed human cases were recorded according to the months of identification. 4900 sandflies were detected in 6 villages and 12 species of sandflies were identified, which including P.papatasi, P.mongolensis, P.caucasieus, P.caucasicus group, P.sergenti, P.alexandri, P.kazeroni, P.brevis, P.[adlerhis] sp, S.sintoni, S.clydei, S.sogdiana. P.papatasi was predominant species in indoor places [46.1%] and S.sintoni was in outdoor places [36.7%]. Sandflies activities extended from early May through mid October with two peaks in mid June and September. Human infection had a important peak in January. During the collection of sandflies, the species of P.alexandri, P.kazeroni, P.brevis, P.[Adlerius sp.] S.clydei and S.sogdiana were collected for the first time from this area. In this study, P.papatasi was the predominant species in this area. Sandflies second activity peak occured in September that is crucial for transmission of disease. The incubation period for this disease was four months
Subject(s)
Insecta , Leishmaniasis , Ecology , Insect VectorsABSTRACT
Zoonotic cutaneous leishmanianisis is one of most important health problem in the world and the disease has been reported from more than 88 countries with 350 million people at the risk of it. The diseases has been widespread in several parts of Islamic republic of Iran. Sand flies [phlebotominae] are the vectors of the disease that transmit of parasites from the infected rodents to human. Knowledge on ecology of Sand flies can help us to design of disease control program. Determine of fauna and monthly activity of Sand flies was the main objects of this study. This survey was performed as an experimental and practical study. It was carried out in Damghan district of Semnan province during 2008. Sand flies were collected from indoors and outdoors using sticky traps twice in month from early April to late November. Totally 6110 sand flies [6 species of Phlebotomus and 2 species of Sergentomyia] were collected and identified from indoors [2146] and outdoors [3964]. Activity of sand flies were started in April and ended in October with two peaks in May and September. This dominant species were Phlebotomus papatasi. Hight density of Phlebotomus papatasi as the dominant specimen indicates that, this species can be the main vector of disease. Collection of P.caucasicus, p.mongolensis and P.ansarii from rodent burrow show that they can play as the secondary role to transmitting of disease among rodent reservoirs. Dissection of sand flies for finding of parasites and following of them by molecular methods is necessary to confirmation of proven vector[s]. Control of rodents, environmental sanitary as well as personal protections and insecticide impregnated bed nets was suggested to prevention of disease
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Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/transmission , Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/prevention & control , InsectaABSTRACT
Molecular epidemiology of Visceral Leishmaniasis [VL] is currently used widely for different objectives such as vector incrimination studies. In this study three different loci including kinetoplast DNA [kDNA], ribosomal DNA [rDNA], cystein protease B [CPB[ of Leishmania parasite genome were used for detection and identification of natural infection of sand flies of Germi district of Ardebil province, the most important VL or Kala-azar foci in Iran. The results showed that the three loci of kDNA, rDNA and CPBs are respectively more appropriate for leptomonad infection/initial screening, identification of the L.donovani complex, and discrimination of the species complex. It was also verified that both members of the complex, L.donovani and L.infantum, are present in the study area and are transmitted to the hosts by Phlebotomus perfiliewi transcaucasicus sandflies. This is the first report on natural infection of sand flies to L.donovani in the country and since the ecology and biology of L.donovani differs extensively from L.infantum, it is necessary to perform further studies to highlight the role of L.donovani in epidemiology of VL in the region and country