Species Diversity and Relative Abundance of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) on Three Army Installations in the Southern United States and Susceptibility of a Domestic Sand Fly to Infection With Old World Leishmania major

Authors: Claborn, David M.¹; Rowton, Edgar D.²; Lawyer, Phillip G.³; Brown, Grayson C.⁴; Keep, Lisa W.⁵

Source: Military Medicine, Volume 174, Number 11, November 2009 , pp. 1203-1208(6)

Publisher: AMSUS - Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Abstract:

ABSTRACT

Leishmania infections in American veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have raised concern that veterans could serve as reservoirs of Old World parasites for domestic vector populations. A survey of sand flies on three U.S. Army facilities in the southern United States was conducted to identify potential vectors. Five species, including two new state records, are reported for Fort Hood, TX. Very few flies were detected in Fort Bragg, NC. Large numbers of a man-biting species, Lutzomyia shannoni, were trapped on Fort Campbell, KY. Weekly activity patterns for dominant species are presented. In addition, an infection experiment was conducted to determine if a domestic sand fly is susceptible to infection with Old World Leishmania major. Lu. shannoni became infected and supported Le. major up to 6 days postprandial. Metacyclogenesis and actual transmission of Le. major to an uninfected mouse did not occur because infected flies did not take subsequent blood meals.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Nursing, Missouri State University, 901 South National Avenue, Springfield, MO 65897. 2: Department of Entomology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Health, 503 Robert Grant Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910. 3: Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, NIAID, National Institutes of Health, Building 4, Room B112, Bethesda, MD 20892. 4: Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546. 5: Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20851.

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