Sand flies of Nicaragua: a checklist and reports of new collections

Abstract

Sand flies within the genus Lutzomyia serve as the vectors for all species of the protozoan parasite Leishmania in the New World. In this paper, we present a summary of the 29 species of Lutzomyia and one of Brumptomyia previously reported for Nicaragua and report results of our recent collections of 565 sand flies at eight localities in the country from 2001-2006. Lutzomyia longipalpis was the predominant species collected within the Pacific plains region of western Nicaragua, while Lutzomyia cruciata or Lutzomyia barrettoi majuscula were the species most frequently collected in the central highlands and Atlantic plains regions. The collection of Lutzomyia durani (Vargas & Nájera) at San Jacinto in July 2001 is a new record for Nicaragua. Leishmaniasis is endemic to Nicaragua and occurs in three forms: cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. Cutaneous infections are the most prevalent type of leishmaniasis in Nicaragua and they occur in two different clinical manifestations, typical cutaneous leishmaniasis and atypical cutaneous leishmaniasis, depending on the species of the infecting Leishmania parasite. The distribution of sand flies collected during this study in relation to the geographic distribution of clinical forms of leishmaniasis in the country is also discussed.

Detection of Leishmania infantum DNA in Pintomyia evansi and Lutzomyia longipalpis in Honduras

“…infantum in these species [ 6 ]. These sand flies were also predominant in other NUCL-endemic areas of Central America (i.e., Costa Rica and Nicaragua) [ 17 , 18 ]…”

Leprosy Associated with Atypical Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Nicaragua and Honduras

“…The species of sand fly can influence the clinical presentation of ACL because of the immune priming from the Leishmania saliva. 15,44 However, it has also been shown in Honduras that different species of Leishmania caused an identical pathology. 12 It is well known that ACL is endemic in Central America, but it is of particular interest to try to ascertain whether there is a biological relationship between the Leishmania parasite and M. leprae.…”