Phlebotomine Fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) and Infection by Leishmania spp. in Forest Fragments of a University Campus, Western Amazon

Abstract

Forest fragments consist of important ecosystems for the maintenance of sand fly populations and Leishmania hosts. This study sought to identify the phlebotomine fauna and its infection by Leishmania spp. in forest fragments on the campus of the Federal University of Acre (UFAC), Western Amazon. Monthly collections with CDC traps were carried out from March 2020 to June 2021, in four forest fragments of UFAC. Male and female insects were processed and identified at species level. A sample of females was subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to verify the presence Leishmania DNA. In total, 465 specimens were collected, of which 238 were males and 227 were females. The most frequent species were Nyssomyia antunesi (Coutinho, 1939) (47.3%), Trichophoromyia sp. (Mangabeira, 1942) (18.70%), and Ny. whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho, 1939) (8.81%). Molecular analysis detected the presence of Leishmania (Ross, 1903) DNA in a specimen of Ny. antunesi, and another one of Evandromyia walker (Newstead, 1914). The forest fragments of the university campus harbor a diverse sand fly fauna with the presence of Leishmania DNA in these insects, in addition to the presence of other species considered incriminated vectors of Leishmania parasites.

Keywords: American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis; Phlebotominae; University Campus.