1. Molecular mass screening to incriminate sand fly vectors of Andean-type cutaneous leishmaniasis in Ecuador and Peru.
- Author
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Kato H, Cáceres AG, Gomez EA, Mimori T, Uezato H, Marco JD, Barroso PA, Iwata H, and Hashiguchi Y
- Subjects
- Animals, Ecuador, Humans, Leishmania classification, Leishmania genetics, Peru, Phylogeny, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length, Insect Vectors, Leishmania isolation & purification, Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous transmission, Mass Screening methods, Psychodidae parasitology
- Abstract
Sand flies from the Andean areas of Ecuador and Peru were examined for Leishmania infections by using our recently established molecular mass screening method. Leishmanial minicircle DNA-positive sand flies were detected in 3 of 192 and 1 of 462 samples from Ecuador and Peru, respectively. Sand fly species were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of the 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene, and the positive flies were Lutzomyia (Lu.) ayacuchensis and Lu. peruensis, respectively. Furthermore, cytochrome b and mannose-phosphate isomerase gene sequence analyses identified the parasites from Ecuador and Peru as Leishmania (Leishmania) mexicana and L. (Viannia) peruviana, respectively. Thus, the mass screening method was confirmed to be a powerful tool for sand fly research.
- Published
- 2008