Phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) in forested areas of the Serra da Bodoquena, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Investigation was undertaken on the behaviour of the phlebotomine fauna in caves, forests, and anthropic environments of the Serra da Bodoquena, between January 1998 and January 2000. This paper reports on the phlebotomines captured in forested areas with automatic light traps (ALT), Shannon traps (ST), aspiration (AN), at natural resting sites and by human attractiveness (HA) during 24 h. The diversity and abundance of the species were investigated with ALT installed at 16 points (ground level) and 6 in the canopy. Natural infection by flagellates was investigated in females captured with ST, AN, and HA. The sand fly fauna was represented by 23 species. Twenty-two of these were captured with ALT, 15 of them on the western side, and 20 on the eastern. Lutzomyia longipalpis and Nyssomyia whitmani were the most abundant on the former and this species together with Lutzomyia almerioi on the latter side. On the eastern side the ecotopes located close to caves rendered a significantly greater number (P < 0.01) of specimens than did more distant sites. On this side Lu. almerioi contributed with 56% of the total number of specimens. Lu. almerioi females were predominantly attracted by humans (96.4%) and by ST (93.2%) and three of the 2173 dissected (0.138%) presented natural infection by flagellates. The attraction of Lu. almerioi to humans occurred during all seasons, predominantly in the summer, and in nocturnal and diurnal periods. Thus it is bothersome to inhabitants of and visitors to the Bodoquena ridge and a potential vector of flagellates.

Incrimination of Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) rangeli and An. (Nys.) oswaldoi as natural vectors of Plasmodium vivax in Southern Colombia

Malaria transmission in the Southern Colombian state of Putumayo continues despite the absence of traditional vector species, except for the presence of Anopheles darlingi near the southeastern border with the state of Amazonas. In order to facilitate malaria vector incrimination in Putumayo, 2445 morphologically identified Anopheles females were tested for natural infection of Plasmodium vivax by ELISA. Specimens tested included An. apicimacula (n = 2), An. benarrochi B (n = 1617), An. darlingi (n = 29), An. mattogrossensis (n = 7), An. neomaculipalpus (n = 7), An. oswaldoi (n = 362), An. peryassui (n = 1), An. punctimacula (n = 1), An. rangeli (n = 413), and An. triannulatus (n = 6). Despite being overwhelmingly the most anthropophilic species in the region and comprising 66.1% of the mosquitoes tested, An. benarrochi B was not shown to be a vector. Thirty-five An. rangeli and one An. oswaldoi were naturally infected with P. vivax VK210. Sequence data were generated for the nuclear second internal transcriber space region of 31 of these 36 vivax positive mosquitoes (86.1%) to confirm their morphological identification. An. oswaldoi is known to be a species complex in Latin America, but its internal taxonomy remains unresolved. Herein we show that the An. oswaldoi found in the state of Putumayo is genetically similar to specimens from the state of Amapá in Brazil and from the Ocama region in the state of Amazonas in Venezuela, and that this form harbors natural infections of P. vivax. That An. rangeli and this member of the An. oswaldoi complex are incriminated as malaria vectors in Putumayo, is a novel finding of significance for malaria control in Southern Colombia, and possibly in other areas of Latin America.

Freshwater snails and schistosomiasis mansoni in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: VI - Noroeste Fluminense Mesoregion

In this paper, the last of a series dealing with the survey of freshwater gastropods of the state of Rio de Janeiro, the results of collections carried out in the Noroeste Fluminense Mesoregion from 2002 to 2005 are presented and revealed the occurrence of 20 species: Antillorbis nordestensis; Biomphalaria glabrata; B. straminea; B. tenagophila; Drepanotrema anatinum; D. cimex; D. depressissimum; D. lucidum; Ferrissia sp.; Gundlachia ticaga; Gundlachia sp.; Heleobia sp.; Idiopyrgus sp.; Lymnaea columella; Melanoides tuberculatus; Physa acuta; P. marmorata; Plesiophysa guadeloupensis; Pomacea lineata; and Pomacea sp. Concerning the snail hosts of schistosomiasis the three natural vectors were identified and, although no specimens were found harbouring larval forms of Schistosoma mansoni, different kinds of cercariae had been observed.

Systematic notes on Anopheles Meigen (Diptera: Culicidae) species in the state of Amapá, Brazil

Identification of Anopheles nuneztovari Gabaldón and An. goeldii Rozeboom and Gabaldón based on the male genitalia traits is discussed. An. goeldii is in the synonymy of An. nuneztovari, however, characters of the aedeagus of male genitalia distinguish both species. We hypothesize that An. goeldii may be a valid species, however, further studies using molecular characters, especially ITS2 rDNA sequences will be necessary to elucidate the taxonomic status of the species. An. konderi Galvão and Damasceno and An. forattinii Wilkerson and Sallum are registered for the first time in the state of Amapá.

Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the municipality of Várzea Grande: an area of transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been naturally transmitted in periurban areas due to the emergence and reemergence of its vectors in such areas. Aimed to further knowledge on ecological aspects affecting the occurrence of phlebotomine sand flies in VL transmission areas in the municipality of Várzea Grande, state of Mato Grosso (MT), Brazil, sand fly captures were carried out. Monthly collections of sand flies were undertaken with CDC light-traps, which were left in both intradomiciliary and peridomiciliary areas of ten residences during four consecutive days between January 2004 and June 2006. Twenty-two species of genus Lutzomyia and one of Brumptomyia were captured. The most abundant species was Lutzomyia longipalpis (65.23%), followed by L. evandroi (16.26%), L. lenti (7.69%), L. whitmani (4.92%), L. sallesi (2.34%) and L. termitophila (1.32%). The highest density of the main VL vector, L. longipalpis, was found in peridomiciliary areas, mostly males. No significant correlation was found between environment (temperature, air relative humidity and rain fall) and phlebotomine density; although a slight increase in sand fly density has been observed in the period following rainfalls, particularly L. longipalpis. No correlation was observed between distribution and density of L. longipalpis, prevalence of human VL cases and the presence of serologically positive dogs. The presence of infected dogs, increased vector density, susceptibility rate and interruption of epidemiological surveillance may raise the risk of VL transmission to man in Várzea Grande.

Studies on the sandfly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) from transmission areas of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in state of Acre, Brazil

Studies were undertaken on the phlebotomines in the municipalities of Bujari, Xapuri and Rio Branco in the state of Acre. The abundance of species on the ground and in the tree canopy was estimated by Standardized Index of Species Abundance. Of the 52 species identified, Lutzomyia (N.) antunesi, Lutzomyia (N.) whitmani, Lutzomyia (P.) davisi, Lutzomyia migonei, Lutzomyia (N.) umbratilis, Lutzomyia (N.) flaviscutellata, Lutzomyia (T.) ubiqui-talis, Lutzomyia (P.) hirsuta hirsuta, Lutzomyia (P.) paraensis and Lutzomyia (P.) ayrozai are known to be vectors of Leishmania, the causative agent of American cutaneous leishmaniasis. Lutzomyia (T.) auraensis, Lu. (N.) antunesi, Lu. (N.) whitmani and Lu. (P.) davisi accounted for 66.95% of the specimens collected. Lu. (N.) whitmani was the most abundant species, followed by Lu. (N.) antunesi and Lu. (P.) davisi. Lu. (N.) antunesi was the most abundant species in the soil as well as in the canopy. Lu. (N.) umbratilis occurred in all three municipalities and was the fifth most abundant species in the Chico Mendes Municipal Park in Rio Branco. It was collected on both the ground level as well as in the canopy; however, it was more frequently collected in the tree canopy. The present study suggests the existence of three transmission cycles of Leishmania in Acre, including the transmission of Leishmania (V.) guyanensis by Lu. (N.) umbratilis south of the Amazon River.

Night and crepuscular mosquitoes and risk of vector-borne diseases in areas of piassaba extraction in the middle Negro River basin, state of Amazonas, Brazil

A study of crepuscular and night-biting mosquitoes was conducted at remote settlements along the Padauiri River, middle Negro River, state of Amazonas, Brazil. Collections were performed with human bait and a CDC-light trap on three consecutive days per month from June 2003-May 2004. In total, 1,203 h of collection were performed, of which 384 were outside and 819 were inside houses. At total of 11,612 specimens were captured, and Anophelinae (6.01%) were much less frequent than Culicinae (93.94%). Anopheles darlingi was the most frequent Anophelinae collected. Among the culicines, 2,666 Culex (Ae.) clastrieri Casal & Garcia, 2,394 Culex. (Mel.) vomerifer Komp, and 1,252 Culex (Mel.) eastor Dyar were the most frequent species collected. The diversity of insects found reveals the receptivity of the area towards a variety of diseases facilitated by the presence of vectors involved in the transmission of Plasmodium, arboviruses and other infectious agents.

Phlebotomine fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) of an American cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

The occurrence of an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis associated with Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis in the municipality of Bela Vista, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and the absence of information on its vectors in this area led the authors to undertake captures of phlebotomine sand flies, using Shannon traps and automatic CDC light traps, in domiciles, forested areas and animal shelters from February 2004-January 2006. A total of 808 specimens belonging to 18 sandfly species have been identified: Bichromomyia flaviscutellata,Brumptomyia avellari, Brumptomyia brumpti, Brumptomyia sp, Evandromyia aldafalcaoae, Evandromyia cortelezzii, Evandromyia evandroi, Evandromyia lenti, Evandromyia teratodes, Evandromyia termitophila, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Nyssomyia whitmani, Pintomyia christenseni, Psathyromyia aragaoi, Psathyromyia campograndensis, Psathyromyia punctigeniculata, Psathyromyia shannoni and Sciopemyia sordellii. The presence of Lu. longipalpis, Ny. whitmani and Bi. flaviscutellata, vectors of Leishmania chagasi, Leishmania braziliensis and L. amazonensis, respectively, has increased.

Dispersal and survival of Nyssomyia intermedia and Nyssomyia neivai (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) in a cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area of the speleological province of the Ribeira Valley, state of São Paulo, Brazil

The dispersal and survival of the phlebotomines Nyssomyia intermedia and Nyssomyia neivai (both implicated as vectors of the cutaneous leishmaniasis agent) in an endemic area was investigated using a capture-mark-release technique in five experiments from August-December 2003 in municipality of Iporanga, state of São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 1,749 males and 1,262 females of Ny. intermedia and 915 males and 411 females of Ny. neivai were marked and released during the five experiments. Recapture attempts were made using automatic light traps, aspiration in natural resting places and domestic animal shelters and Shannon traps. A total of 153 specimens (3.48%) were recaptured: 2.59% (78/3,011) for Ny. intermedia and 5.35% (71/1,326) for Ny. neivai. Both species were recaptured up to 144 h post-release, with the larger part of them recaptured within 48 h. The median dispersion distances for Ny. intermedia and Ny. neivai, respectively, were 109 m and 100 m. The greatest dispersal range of Ny. intermedia was 180 m, while for Ny. neivai one female was recaptured in a pasture at 250 m and another in a pigsty at 520 m, showing a tendency to disperse to more open areas. The daily survival rates calculated based on regressions of the numbers of marked insects recaptured on the six successive days after release were 0.746 for males and 0.575 for females of Ny. intermedia and 0.649 for both sexes of Ny. neivai. The size of the populations in the five months ranged from 8,332-725,085 for Ny. intermedia males, 2,193-104,490 for Ny. intermedia females, 1,687-350,122 for Ny. neivai males and 254-49,705 for Ny. neivai females.

Attraction of Chagas disease vectors (Triatominae) to artificial light sources in the canopy of primary Amazon rainforest

Adult triatomines occasionally fly into artificially lit premises in Amazonia. This can result in Trypanosoma cruzi transmission to humans either by direct contact or via foodstuff contamination, but the frequency of such behaviour has not been quantified. To address this issue, a light-trap was set 45 m above ground in primary rainforest near Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil and operated monthly for three consecutive nights over the course of one year (432 trap-hours). The most commonly caught reduviids were triatomines, including 38 Panstrongylus geniculatus, nine Panstrongylus lignarius, three Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus, five Rhodnius robustus, two Rhodnius pictipes, one Rhodnius amazonicus and 17 Eratyrus mucronatus. Males were collected more frequently than females. The only month without any catches was May. Attraction of most of the known local T. cruzi vectors to artificial light sources is common and year-round in the Amazon rainforest, implying that they may often invade premises built near forest edges and thus become involved in disease transmission. Consequently, effective Chagas disease prevention in Amazonia will require integrating entomological surveillance with the currently used epidemiological surveillance.

Synergism/complementarity of recombinant adenoviral vectors and other vaccination platforms during induction of protective immunity against malaria

The lack of immunogenicity of most malaria antigens and the complex immune responses required for achieving protective immunity against this infectious disease have traditionally hampered the development of an efficient human malaria vaccine. The current boom in development of recombinant viral vectors and their use in prime-boost protocols that result in enhanced immune outcomes have increased the number of malaria vaccine candidates that access pre-clinical and clinical trials. In the frontline, adenoviruses and poxviruses seem to be giving the best immunization results in experimental animals and their mutual combination, or their combination with recombinant proteins (formulated in adjuvants and given in sequence or being given as protein/virus admixtures), has been shown to reach unprecedented levels of anti-malaria immunity that predictably will be somehow reproduced in the human setting. However, all this optimism was previously seen in the malaria vaccine development field without many real applicable results to date. We describe here the current state-of-the-art in the field of recombinant adenovirus research for malaria vaccine development, in particular referring to their use in combination with other immunogens in heterologous prime-boost protocols, while trying to simultaneously show our contributions and point of view on this subject.

Natural Leishmania sp. reservoirs and phlebotomine sandfly food source identification in Ibitipoca State Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Leishmania spp are distributed throughout the world and different species are associated with varying degrees of disease severity. However, leishmaniasis is thought to be confined to areas of the world where its insect vectors, sandflies, are present. Phlebotomine sandflies obtain blood meals from a variety of wild and domestic animals and sometimes from humans. These vectors transmit Leishmania spp, the aetiological agent of leishmaniasis. Identification of sandfly blood meals has generally been performed using serological methods, although a few studies have used molecular procedures in artificially fed insects. In this study, cytochrome b gene (cytB) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed in DNA samples isolated from 38 engorged Psychodopygus lloydi and the expected 359 bp fragment was identified from all of the samples. The amplified product was digested using restriction enzymes and analysed for restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). We identified food sources for 23 females; 34.8% yielded a primate-specific banding profile and 26.1% and 39.1% showed banding patterns specific to birds or mixed restriction profiles (rodent/marsupial, human/bird, rodent/marsupial/human), respectively. The food sources of 15 flies could not be identified. Two female P. lloydi were determined to be infected by Leishmania using internal transcribed spacer 1 and heat shock protein 70 kDa PCR-RFLP. The two female sandflies, both of which fed on rodents/marsupials, were further characterised as infected with Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis. These results constitute an important step towards applying methodologies based on cytB amplification as a tool for identifying the food sources of female sandflies.

Species diversity of sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) during different seasons and in different environments in the district of Taquaruçú, state of Tocantins, Brazil

Phlebotomine sandflies are the vectors for the protozoan parasites that cause leishmaniasis. The present study investigated the species composition of sandfly fauna in the rural district of Taquaruçú, municipality of Palmas, state of Tocantins, Brazil and compared the diversity of species among intradomicile, peridomicile and forest environments during the dry and rainy seasons. Sandflies were collected using CDC light traps over the course of three months during the dry and rainy seasons. A total of 767 specimens were captured, belonging to different 32 species. The most abundant species were Micropygomyia goiana (Martins, Falcão & Silva), Sciopemyia sordellii (Shannon & Del Ponte), Evandromyia carmelinoi (Ryan Fraiha, Lainson & Shaw), Evandromyia termitophila (Martins, Falcão & Silva), Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho) and Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva). The highest species diversity (30) and the greatest percentage of specimens (78.3%) were obtained during the rainy season. During the dry season, the species richness and abundance were greater in domestic environments. However, during the rainy season, the forest displayed the highest species richness and the domestic environment exhibited the greatest species abundance. Several important vector species are reported in this study.

Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) from Lábrea, state of Amazonas, Brazil, with a description of Evandromyia (Aldamyia) apurinan Shimabukuro, Figueira & Silva, sp. nov.

An entomological survey was conducted from July-December 2009 and September-December 2010, as part of the epidemiological monitoring of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) in the municipality of Lábrea, state of Amazonas (AM), Brazil. Sandflies were collected using CDC light traps installed in intra and peridomiciliary locations, as well as the border of forested areas around houses where autochthonous cases of ACL were recorded. A total of 510 sandflies belonging to 26 species were collected. The most abundant species was Nyssomyia antunesi (44.5%) followed by Evandromyia walkeri (10.6%) and Micropygomyia rorotaensis (9.8%). Here we also describe Evandromyia (Aldamyia) apurinan sp. nov. and report new records for Trichophoromyia flochi and Evandromyia sipani in AM and Brazil, respectively. Our results describe the composition of the sandfly fauna in the south of AM and suggest Ny. antunesi as the putative vector in the transmission of Leishmania in this area of the Amazon Region.

Diversity and distribution of sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) in a military area in the state of Amazonas, Brazil

This study reports the distribution, ecotopes and fauna diversity of sandflies captured in five training bases on a military reserve in Manaus, state of Amazonas (AM). A total of 10,762 specimens were collected, which were distributed among 58 species, with the highest number recorded at Base Instruction 1 (BI1). A higher rate of species richness was found at the Base Instruction Boina Rajada and low levels of diversity associated with a high abundance index with the clear dominance of Lutzomyia umbratilis, Lutzomyia ruii and Lutzomyia anduzei were found at BI1. The abundance of Lu. umbratilis raises the possibility of outbreaks of American cutaneous leishmaniasis by the main vector of the disease in AM.