Molecular Identification of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Vectors in Alborz Province, North of Iran

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a vector-borne disease widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas of North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Considering the increasing number of CL cases in recent years and the fact that no study has been conducted to identify CL fauna and vectors in Alborz province, this study was carried out to identify sand flies and CL vectors in this region. Sand flies were collected from August to October ۲۰۲۱ from plain and mountainous indoor and outdoor areas of the region using sticky paper traps and were detected morphologically. DNA was extracted from the midguts of female sand flies. In this study, ۱۱۵۷ sand flies were collected and identified. The number of sand flies caught from indoor and outdoor places was ۳۶۷ (۳۱.۷۲%) and ۷۹۰ (۶۸.۲۸%), respectively. Overall, six species of flies were of the genus Phlebotomus (Raynal, ۱۹۳۷), including Phlebotomus papatasi (P. papatasi, ۶۹۵ [۶۰.۰۷%]; Scopoli, ۱۷۸۶), P. kandelakii (۱۳ [۱.۱۲%]; Shchurenkova, ۱۹۲۶), P. sergenti (۲۳۲ [۲۰.۰۵%]; Parrot, ۱۹۱۷), P. major (۱۴ [۱.۲۱%]; Annandale, ۱۹۱۰), P. caucasicus (۴ [۰.۳۵%]; Marzinowsky, ۱۹۱۷), P. alexandri (۱۸ [۱.۵۶%]; Alexandri Sinton, ۱۹۲۰), and four were of the genus Sergentomyia (Artemiev, ۱۹۷۸), including Sergentomyia tiberiadis (۱۰۹ [۹.۴۲%]; Adler, Theodor & Lourie, ۱۹۳۰), Sergentomyia baghdadis (۵۳ [۴.۵۸%]), Sergentomyia sintoni (۱۴ [۱.۲۱%]; Sintoni Pringle, ۱۹۳۳), Sergentomyia clydei  (۵ [۰.۴۳%]). P. papatasi spp. were dominant in indoor and outdoor places, with a prevalence of ۶۹۵ (۶۰.۰۷%). The Leishmania major (L. major) gene was identified in five samples of P. papatasi spp. This suggests that P. papatasi is the potential vector spp. in the study area. Moreover, L. major was confirmed as the aetiological agent of CL cases in Alborz province. The identification of vectors and parasite spp. is very important for the treatment and operational planning of disease vectors.

کلیدواژه ها:

KDNA ، Leishmania major ، Nested-PCR ، Phlebotomus