Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Governador Valadares, a transmission area for American tegumentary leishmaniasis in State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Ricardo Andrade Barata, Gustavo Fontes Paz, Marcela Cardoso Bastos, Roberta Christiane Oliveira Andrade, Daniela Campos Mendes de Barros, Fabiana Oliveira Lara e Silva, Érika Monteiro Michalsky, Aimara da Costa Pinheiro, Edelberto Santos Dias
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2011
• Subjects: Leishmaniose tegumentar americana; Phlebotominae; Lutzomyia; Flebotomíneos; Governador Valadares; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/s0037-86822011005000003; https://doaj.org/article/cceee588893b47118d2a3560cb0d88ef

INTRODUCTION: A study on the phlebotomine sandfly fauna was carried out in an endemic area for American tegumentary leishmaniasis in the municipality of Governador Valadares, in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: Captures were undertaken using HP light traps in four districts, on three nights per month, for one year (from January to December 2008). Correlations between climatic factors (temperature, relative air humidity and rainfall) and the numbers of sandflies collected was observed. RESULTS: 5,413 phlebotomine specimens were caught and were identified as belonging to 12 species. Of these specimens, 2,851 (52%) were females and 2,562 (48%) were males. CONCLUSIONS: Lutzomyia intermedia predominated (29.9% of the species caught), thus suggesting that they were responsible for transmission of American tegumentary leishmaniasis, together with L. whitmani, which was also found in the area (4.3%). The presence of L. longipalpis (11.9%), the main vector for visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil, is an important finding, which makes rigorous entomological surveillance of the area necessary.