Firest report of Corfu virus in four species of sand flies in Iran by Realtime RT-PCR

Background: One of the most neglected arboviral disease is sand fly fever, which caused by Phlebovirus spp (Family: Phenuiviridae) and transmits by Phlebotomine sand flies. Various species of viruses have been identified in the Phlebovirus genus. Sand fly fever has been considered as a major problem of military forces in the Middle East and south of Europe for more than 100 years. Current situation of sand fly fever and its vectors in Iran is unknown and needs to be updated.Objectives: To investigate the sand flies infection to Phleboviruses by Real-time RT-PCR.Material and methods: Sand flies were collected from five selected provinces by using aspirator and CDC-light trap methods during summer 2015. After preparing the microscopic slides for species identification, the remaining of sand fly bodies were stored at -80 ̊C for molecular experiments.RNA was extracted from 200 μl of homogenized pools by using nucleic acid extraction kit (Rosch–Germany). All samples were tested by Real-time RT-PCR method and by specific primer and probs. simultaneously to find the probable viral infection and virus serotypes as well. The results were compared with positive control.Results: In this survey 6055 sand flies were examined. Totally, viral infection was observed in 12 pools (5.6%). This related to 4 sand fly species including Phlebotomus papatasi, P. alexandri, Sergentomyia sintoni and S. clydei. All of the infections were Sicilian Corfu virus.Conclusion: According to previous studies which have been conducted in Iran, there are at least eight sand fly fever viruses or strains. In the present survey, in addition to P. papatasi which its natural virus infection has been reported previously, natural infection of P. alexandri, S. sintoni and S. clydei with Corfu virus are reported for the first time in Iran and in the world.

کلیدواژه ها:

Sand fly fever ، Phlebovirus ، Phlebotomus papatasi ، Real Time RT-PCR ، Iran