Tracking of Leishmania spp. in Iranian phlebotominae, distribution and biodiversity in Jarqavieh county, central Iran

Abstract

Female phlebotomine sand flies are vectors of the protozoan parasites Leishmania spp. In Iran, Leishmania major and L. tropica are the causative agents of cutaneous Leishmaniasis. This epidemiological and descriptive cross-sectional study took place in 2021 to determine how sand flies are distributed in Hasanabad and Hossein-Abad, located in eastern Isfahan province, central Iran. Sand flies were screened for Leishmania DNA by semi-nested PCR and sequencing to discriminate between species. Overall, 363 collected sand flies were identified morphologically, among which 161 (44.4) and 202 (55.6) were from Hasanabad and Hossein-Abad, respectively; the most significant number was caught from outdoor places. Also, 34.4 and 65.6 of the sand flies were female and male, respectively. The most prevalent sand fly species were Phlebotomus papatasi (52.6), followed by Ph. caucasicus (30.6), Sergentomyia sintoni (13.2), Sergentomyia spp. (1.9), and the rest unknown (1.7). Eight of sixty (13.33) molecularly analyzed sand flies, including six Ph. papatasi and two S. sintoni, were infected with L. major, of which all were collected from outdoor environments in July.