A periurbanização de Lutzomyia whitmani em área de foco de leishmaniose cutânea, no Estado do Maranhão, Brasil

Abstract

An entomological survey was performed in the periurban area of the municipality of Dom Pedro in the state of Maranhão in 2000, in order to estimate the abundance of Lutzomyia longipalpis, due to the occurrence of one suspect death caused by kala azar. However, it was surprisingly verified that 82.4% (2,440 specimens) from the total of 2,961 sand flies captured in the peridomicile were Lutzomyia whitmani. This association has indicated a new pattern for cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission (urban), as has been observed with regard to kala azar in the northeast of Brazil.

Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a cerrado area of the Maranhão state, Brazil

“…This is a well adapted species to anthropogenic environments, vectoring The occurrence of Lu. whitmani in the peridomiciliary area shows that this species is highly adapted to human conditions, a fact already noted in other regions of Maranhão (Rebêlo et al 1999a,b, Martin & Rebêlo 2006, Leonardo & Rebêlo 2004). This vector has previously been found naturally infected with Leishmania species from the braziliensis complex, which is involved in the cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in Maranhão (Oliveira-Pereira et al 2006), and in other Brazilian areas as well (Rangel & Lainson 2003, Costa et al 2007.…”

“…The wide-ranging and systematical studies included Amazonian humid forest, ombrophila forest and mixed vegetation composed of Cerrado, "Cocal" and Caatinga sites (Rebêlo et al 1999a, Rebêlo et al 2000a, Leonardo & Rebêlo 2004, Marinho et al 2008. However, studies focusing on the overall sand fl y species diversity of the Cerrado biome in Maranhão state were only carried out in a restricted region, mostly at the municipality of Santa Quitéria (Martin & Rebêlo 2006) in the low Parnaiba River zone.…”

Phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) in forested areas of the Serra da Bodoquena, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

“…The high abundance of N. whitmani (Table VII) has also been observed in other forested areas and in domestic animal shelters in the Northeastern, Midwestern, Southeastern, and Southern regions of Brazil as well as in Paraguay where this species has been considered the most important vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis (Pessôa & Coutinho 1941, Vexenat et al 1986, Hashiguchi et al 1992, Queiroz et al 1994, Galati et al 1996, Luz et al 2000, Teodoro et al 1991, Dias-Lima et al 2003, Leonardo & Rebêlo 2004. So the overwhelming predominance of this species in both seasonal deciduous sub-mountainous and gallery forests on the Bálsamo do Rio Perdido farm (Tables I, II) is perhaps due to the proximity of these two areas to the corral and pig pen which seem to influence the density of the species positively, since these shelters may act as artificial resting sites for the sand flies, or attract females to take their food from cattle and pigs as well as to find males for mating; the aspiration of Lu.…”

Estrutura da comunidade de Phlebotominae (Diptera, Psychodidae) em mata ciliar do município de Urbano Santos, Maranhão, Brasil

“…Destaca-se ainda a presença de L. lenti e L. evandroi que têm aparecido em todos os levantamentos realizados nos municípios do nordeste do Estado (REBÊLO et al, 1999;LEONARDO & REBÊLO, 2004;MARTIN & REBÊLO, 2006) e de L. whitmani sempre presente nas áreas silvestres e peridomiciliares rurais (REBÊLO et al 1999(REBÊLO et al , 2000a, o que explica a impressionante marca de 5.361 casos de leishmaniose tegumentar notificados na última década, somente na região nordeste do Estado (COSTA et al, 2005).…”