First report of naturally infected Sergentomyia minuta with Leishmania major in Tunisia

• DOI: 10.1186/s13071-015-1269-4
• Publication Date: 2015-12-21T12:58:31Z
• Authors: Kaouther Jaouadi; Wissem Ghawar; Sadok Salem; Mohamed Gharbi; Jihene Bettaieb; Rihab Yazidi; Mariem Harrabi; Omar Hamarsheh; Afif Ben Salah
• Keywords: Cutaneous leishmaniasis; Tunisia; Short Report; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; DNA, Protozoan; Polymerase Chain Reaction; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Infectious Diseases; 0302 clinical medicine; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; Animals; Sergentomyia minuta; Parasitology; Psychodidae; Phlebotomus papatasi; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Leishmania major

Many sand fly species are implicated in the transmission cycle of Leishmania parasites around the world. Incriminating new sand flies species, as vectors of Leishmania is crucial to understanding the parasite-vector transmission cycle in different areas in Tunisia and surrounding countries.Seventy-four unfed females belonging to the genera Sergentomyia and Phlebotomus were collected in South Tunisia between June and November 2014, using sticky papers. PCR-RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) analysis of the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) was used for Leishmania parasites detection and identification. Leishmania (L.) major (Yakimoff & Shokkor, 1914) was identified within two Sergentomyia (S.) minuta (Rondani, 1843) and one Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli, 1786).This is the first report of L. major identified from S. minuta in Tunisia. This novel finding enhances the understanding of the transmission cycle of L. major parasites of cutaneous leishmaniasis in an endemic area in South Tunisia.