Presence of Lutzomyia longipalpis and Nyssomyia whitmani in Entre Rios, Argentina

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of Lutzomyia longipalpis in the Argentine city of Concordia, in the province of Entre Rios, without record of this species despite previous samplings, but with canine cases of visceral leishmaniasis and Lu. longipalpis reports both, from Northern Argentine localities and from the city of Salto, Uruguay, located just across the river and the international border. This study confirms the presence of Lu. longipalpis and Nyssomyia whitmani, related to the risk of visceral and tegumentary leishmaniasis, respectively, in Concordia-Entre Rios. The presence of Lu. longipalpis confirms the ongoing dispersal along the Uruguay river basin. The presence of these species in the study area alerts about the risk of transmission of Leishmania spp.

Phylogenetic relationships of closely-related phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) of Nyssomyia genus and Lutzomyia subgenus

“…whitmani haplotypes from Concordia (its southernmost distribution until now) H61 and H62/H63 are separated by at least 17 mutational steps. (6) Similarly, Ny. whitmani haplotypes from Puerto Iguazú (Northeast region, Argentina) have at least 11 mutational steps between them.…”

“…(5) Its geographical distribution comprises a wide but discontinued range from central Mexico to Argentina and Uruguay, with a recently southern expansion and urban environments colonisation. (5,6) A variety of evidence including chemical and behavioral suggests that it is a complex of at least seven species in Brazil, while molecular analyses identified eight haplogroups throughout its distribution. (5,7,8) Regarding Lutzomyia cruzi (Mangabeira), its sibling, is also incriminated in Brazil as a vector of Le.…”

Population dynamics of Nyssomyia whitmani (Diptera: Psychodidae) in domestic and peridomestic environments in Northeast Argentina, a tegumentary leishmaniasis outbreak area

“…The distribution of Ny. whitmani in Argentina outside the Atlantic-Paranaense forest ecoregion is limited (Santini et al 2018, Martínez et al 2020, Moya et al 2022, Villarquide et al 2022, only registered in isolated sites in spite of extensive sampling in the region.…”

Distribution of Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidade) species and human cases of leishmaniasis in the Province of Corrientes, Argentina

“…whitmani. Hence, these species could be present having not been recorded in southern Corrientes.They could even be implicated in some of the CL cases in the 8 positive cities where Phlebotominae sandflies were not sampled (Salomón et al, 2006b;Gould et al, 2013;Santini et al, 2018).…”