Observaciones sobre la ecología de Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) y posibilidades de existencia de leishmaniasis visceral en Costa Rica

Abstract

A semiarid area of northwest Costa Rica where Lutzomyia longipalpis is common in corrals around houses is described. Monthly captures of the sandfly during two consecutive years for fixed periods of time indicated that the insect bites avidly cows, horses, pigs, dogs and humans. From a total of 14,215 specimens, 90.5% were males and the species is markedly more abundant during the dry season decreasing considerably when rain comes. The possibility that visceral leishmaniasis could become in the future established in the area is discussed, in view of the fact that it already exists endemically in other Central American countries.

Aspectos da ecologia e do comportamento de flebotomíneos em área endêmica de leishmaniose visceral, Minas Gerais

“…Na Costa Rica, Zeledon e cols 39 também capturaram números significativos de flebótomos em iscas humanas, mas também no cão, porco cavalo e boi 39 . Entretanto, Morrison e cols 28 sugeriram que esta espécie é oportunista e na Colômbia, não é fortemente atraída por humanos e cães 28 .…”

Study on phlebotomine sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) fauna in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…In the states of Ceará, Bahia, and Mato Grosso do Sul, a higher population density of phlebotomine sand flies has been observed during the rainy periods (Deane 1956, Sherlok & Guilton 1969, Galati et al 1997, while in Costa Rica, higher densities occur in the dry periods (Zeledón et al 1984) In Amazônia Maranhense, there have been abundant phlebotomine species during the rainy periods, others in dry periods and several species irregularly distributed throughout the year, L. longipalpis and L. whitmani (Rebêlo et al 2001b).…”

Lutzomyia longipalpis behavior and control at an urban visceral leishmaniasis focus in Argentina

“…The sand flies landed on a human only when the dog was at 1.5 m or closer. The dog preference was reported for some older foci 37 or as a factor associated with higher abundance of Lu. longipalpis 28 , but in other studies was not a highly preferred blood source 10,23,26,34 .…”