Diversity of Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in mountainous and plain areas of an endemic focus of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran

Objective: To determine the diversity of sand flies in different biotopes of mountainous and plain areas of Bam County as the most infected focus of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in southeast Iran, and synanthropic index of Phlebotomus sergenti Parrot, and Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli as the main vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran. Methods: Sand flies were captured once a month using sticky traps in domestic, peri-domestic, agricultural, and sylvatic biotopes in the plain and mountainous areas. Alpha diversity indices, including richness, evenness, Shannon-Wiener; beta diversity indices (Jaccard's and Sorensen's similarity indices) and synanthropic index were calculated. Results: A total of 2 664 specimens of 9 sand fly species were collected from mountainous (47%) and plain (53%) areas. Species richness, species evenness, and Shannon-Wiener indices were obtained as 9, 0.637, and 1.399, respectively in the mountainous area. Phlebotomus sergenti and Phlebotomus papatasi were constant species with the synanthropic index of-18.463 and-29.412, respectively. In addition, species richness, species evenness, and Shannon-Wiener indices were 4, 0.690, and 0.956, respectively in the plain area. Phlebotomus sergenti and Phlebotomus papatasi were dominant species with the synanthropic index of +9.695 and +36.207, respectively. Similarity indices were low among different biotopes of plain and mountainous areas. Conclusions: A basic knowledge about the diversity of sand flies in various biotopes is essential to design sound control programs. Biodiversity and synanthropic indices of sand flies are different in plain and mountainous areas due to the difference in biotic and abiotic factors between the two areas.

Seroprevalence of bovine leptospiral antibodies by microscopic agglutination test in Southeast of Iran

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate serological findings of bovine leptospirosis which is a zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution caused by Leptospira interrogans.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and sixty seven sera were collected from 9 commercial dairy herds in jiroft suburbs, from July to October 2011. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used to evaluates serological findings of bovine leptospirosis in Jiroft suburb dairy farms, Kerman province, Iran.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Antibodies were found by MAT at least against one serovar of Leptospira interrogans in 29 samples (17.36%) among 167 sera at a dilution 1:100 or higher, and Leptospira pomona was the most prevalent serovar. Positive titers against more than one serovar were detected in 6 sera of the positive samples.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This study is the first report of leptospirosis in Southeast Iran and showed that Leptospira pomona was the most and Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae the least prevalent serovars in Southeast Iran.</p>

Herd-prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (Q fever) antibodies in dairy cattle farms based on bulk tank milk analysis

OBJECTIVE@#To determine the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) antibody positive randomly selected dairy herds in southeast Iran (Kerman).@*METHODS@#Bulk tank milk samples were collected randomly from 44 sufficiently large commercial dairy herds, included near 12 000 dairy cattle, in Kerman (The largest province of Iran), southeast Iran. The samples were tested for antibodies against C. burnetii using the commercial CHEKIT® Q fever antibody ELISA Test Kit (Idexx, Liebefeld-Bern, Switzerland).@*RESULTS@#The prevalence of positive, negative and intermediate herds were 45.4%, 43.2% and 11.4%, respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The result supports the hypothesis of high prevalence and endemic pattern of Q fever in Iran. This investigation highlights the importance of further studies on Q fever in Iran.