Cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum and transmitted by Phlebotomus tobbi : a meta analysis related with climatic data
Milena Svobodová*, Bulent Alten**, Lenka Zídková*, Vít Dvořák*, Jitka Hlavačková*, Jitka Myšková*, Veronika Šeblová*, Ozge Erisoz Kasap**, Asli Belen**, Jan Votýpka*, Petr Volf*
* Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Vinicna 7,
Prague, 128 44, Czech Republic
** Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, 06532 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey
Transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania infantum was studied in South Anatolia, Turkey. Small, nonulcerating lesions prevailed and patients were negative in rK39 tests for antibody detection in human visceral leishmaniasis. The most abundant sand fly species, Phlebotomus tobbi, was found repeatedly positive for promastigotes, Leishmania prevalence in P. tobbi was 1,4% (13 out of 898 dissected females). The isolated strains were identical with those obtained from patients with CL, and were typed as L. infantum. Phylogenetic analysis revealed similarity to MON-188 and clear difference from MON-1 clade. Phlebotomus tobbi belongs to permissive vectors, as revealed by the presence of O-glycoproteins in female midgut. Bloodmeal identification showed that it feeds preferentially on cattle and humans. This finding, together with high number of CL patients and relative scarcity of dogs in the focus, suggests that the transmission cycle could be anthroponotic. In this study, as a meta analysis, we evaluated all the results together with climatic data collected throughout the study
period, altitude and also distribution of vector species.