Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in an urban area of Northeastern Brazil

Abstract INTRODUCTION: The sandfly fauna is well studied globally. In Brazil, sandfly fauna is very diverse in the Northeast region, especially in states such as Maranhão, Ceará, and Bahia. However, in the State of Pernambuco, the distribution of these insects is still not well known. Therefore, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
Main Authors: Maria Claudia Ribeiro Agra, Pietra Lemos Costa, Anderson Enio Silva Duque, Efraim Naftali Lopes Soares, Leucio Câmara Alves, Rafael Antonio Nascimento Ramos, Gílcia Aparecida de Carvalho
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT)
Subjects:
Lutzomyia longipalpis
Leishmania infantum
Urbanization
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0147-2016
https://doaj.org/article/6749240bc07d4570bc7e8152b3409385
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Summary:Abstract INTRODUCTION: The sandfly fauna is well studied globally. In Brazil, sandfly fauna is very diverse in the Northeast region, especially in states such as Maranhão, Ceará, and Bahia. However, in the State of Pernambuco, the distribution of these insects is still not well known. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the different species that constitute the sandfly fauna in an urban area in the Northeast region of Brazil, where an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was recently reported. METHODS: The sandflies were collected from an urban area endemic for VL, at five collection points. The collection of samples was carried out from November 2014 to December 2015, using CDC light traps installed in intradomiciliary and peridomiciliary fashion. RESULTS: The collected sandflies (n = 297) belonged to eight species: Lutzomyia lenti, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Lutzomyia sallesi, Lutzomyia migonei, Lutzomyia walkeri, Lutzomyia capixaba, Lutzomyia carmelinoi, and Lutzomyia whitmani. Most of the specimens collected were peridomiciliary (247/297, 83%). L. lenti (154/297, 52%) was the most frequently sampled species, followed by L. longipalpis (88/297, 29.6%), and L. sallesi (42/297, 14.1%), which together accounted for over 90% of the collected sandfly specimens. CONCLUSIONS: The continued presence of L. longipalpis in urban areas, including that in intradomiciliary areas, with a predominance of females, is crucial because of the high possibility of them causing VL outbreaks, since this species is the main vector of Leishmania infantum in Brazil.

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