Leishmania infection in Phlebotomus species in Mehran city, Ilam province, Iran, Iran

Dalimi, Abolhossein; Gordani, Tahereh

doi:10.22092/ari.2024.364250.2954

Leishmania infection in Phlebotomus species in Mehran city, Ilam province, Iran, Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

¹ Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University

² Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University

10.22092/ari.2024.364250.2954

Abstract

Ilam province is one of the most important centers of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ZCL) disease in the west of Iran. This research was conducted to investigate the infectivity of Phlebotomus spp. with Leishmania major in Mehran city of Ilam province, Iran. This study was carried out in the two seasons of the peak of mosquito activity, i.e. summer and autumn of 2019. The sticky papers method was used to collect sandflies. By installing 400 sticky paper traps, 2860 sandflies (950 females and 1910 males) were collected during these two seasons. The female Phlebotomus genus and species were identified using Iranian standard identification key. Then, Leishmania DNA was extracted from the body of the female Phlebotomus using the phenol-chloroform method and amplified by PCR of the ITS1 gene. Then, the genome sequence was compared with the sequence of other samples in the Genbank using bioinformatics software. Finally, based on the phylogenetic tree, the species of the samples of this study was determined. In addition, the parasite species was also determined by using HaeIII restriction enzyme. Among the 617 Phlebotomus female samples collected, 34 phlebotomus female samples were found to be infected with the Leishmania parasite. Of which 32(5.18%) of Ph. papatasi and 2(0.32%) of Ph. sergenti were found to be infected. The results of RFLP method and sequencing indicated that these mosquitoes were infected with only L. major. Based on our results, ZCL type of leishmaniasis is prevalent in Mehran city. It is necessary to pay more attention to the results of this study by health officials of the province.

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