The sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) fauna of the urban area of Lassance, Northeast Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The present study aimed to check the sand flies' fauna on the municipality of Lassance, Minas Gerais, Brazil and detect the presence of Leishmania DNA on the female captured and determine the risk areas of the municipality. Sand flies were collected monthly from May 2018 to April 2019 using automatic light traps for 3 consecutive nights. Eight houses were selected as sample points due its previous reports of tegumentary leishmaniasis and/or canine leishmaniasis. The sand fly's fauna found on the present study it's represented by several medical importance species and the most abundant species found were Lutzomyia longipalpis (77.09%) and Nyssomyia intermedia (10.06%). Leishmania infantum DNA was detected in a pool of Lu. longipalpis resulting on a 2.81% of infection rate. By the frequency of the two most abundant species on this study, we developed a risk area map and it draws attention to sample point 6 due to disparate abundance of sand flies at this site (81.81%). Statistical overview shows Lu. longipalpis as dominant species and, still, Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling analysis reveal high similarity on fauna's diversity on the study area. Our findings suggest that the diversity of sand flies from the municipality of Lassance may promote the circulation of Leishmania infantum parasites putting in risk the habitants and other mammal's species. Still, our study reinforces the necessity of specific studies focused on breed sites of phlebotomine and its' ecology to expand the knowledge about the behaviour of this group of insects applying directly to leishmaniases' epidemiology.

Phlebotominae fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an urban district of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, endemic for visceral leishmaniasis: characterization of favored locations as determined by spatial analysis.

Belo Horizonte, the capital of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and the fourth-largest city in the country, has the highest incidence of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) together with a high prevalence of canine VL. The Northeast Sanitary District (NSD) of Belo Horizonte has the largest historical average of human VL cases in the metropolitan region, and is classified as a priority area for epidemiological and entomological monitoring of the disease. The objectives of the present study were to determine the seasonal variation in phlebotomine fauna and to describe the environmental situations in the NSD through characterization of peri-domiciles and application of geographical information system analysis. Entomological captures were performed every two weeks during the period July 2006 to June 2007 using HP light traps placed at 16 locations where cases of human VL had been reported in 2005. The environmental characterization of these locations was accomplished using forms and photographic images. Spatial analyses was used to determine the influence of vegetation, hydrography, altitude and pockets of poverty on the occurrence of cases of human and canine VL, and of phlebotomine vectors. A total of 633 phlebotomines belonging to the subtribes Psychodopygina and Lutzomyina were captured and, of these, 75% were identified as Nyssomyia whitmani and 11% as Lutzomyia longipalpis. The majority of the studied peri-domiciles presented inadequate hygienic conditions that would favor the development of phlebotomines. No significant correlations could be established between biogeographical aspects and either the incidence of human and canine VL or the occurrence of phlebotomines. The proximity of areas with vegetation, villages, slums and open watercourses exerted little influence on the incidence of VL. These findings reinforce the urbanization of the VL profile since the disease occurred in locations where conditions that have been classically related to its prevalence were not present. The results reported herein will be important for implementing measures against VL in the study area.

Phenetic studies on randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction-variability of four geographical populations of Lutzomyia whitmani (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Brazil.

Previous evaluation of the genetic variability of four biogeographical populations of Lutzomyia whitmani from known foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil demonstrated two main spatial clusters: Corte de Pedra-BA, Ilhéus-BA and Serra de Baturité-CE in the first cluster, and Martinho Campos-MG in the second. Further analysis showed a high degree of homogeneity in Corte de Pedra population but not in the others, which presented a significant percentage of specimens displaced from their phenon of origin (discrepant individuals). In the present work we analyzed the frequencies of association coefficients in the matrixes of similarity per population of Lutzomyia whitmani from both sexes and the general phenograms obtained, in a more detailed study of those discrepant specimens. Populational stability was observed for Corte de Pedra population, whereas the three remaining populations showed varying degrees of heterogeneity and different displacements according to sex. Our results strongly suggested the existence of a genetic flow between the lineages North-South/North-East and Ilhéus/Serra do Baturité of Lutzomyia whitmani.