First report of Warileya rotundipennis (Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) naturally infected with Leishmania (Viannia) in a focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Colombia

Abstract

The expansion of transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis from sylvatic ecosystems into peri-urban and domestic settings has occurred as sand flies have adapted to anthropogenic environmental modifications. Assessment of the intradomiciliary presence of sand flies in households of the settlement “La Cabaña”, in the Department of Risaralda, Colombia, revealed an abundance of Warileya rotundipennis. This unexpected observation motivated further analyses to evaluate the participation of this species in the transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Collections using CDC light traps were conducted during two consecutive nights in May and August 2011. The total of 667 sand flies collected were classified into five species: W. rotundipennis (n = 654; 98.05%), Nyssomyia trapidoi (n = 7; 1.04%); Lutzomyia (Helcocyrtomyia) hartmanni (n = 3; 0.44%); Lutzomyia lichyi (n = 2; 0.29%) and Psychodopygus panamensis (n = 1; 0.14%). The striking predominance of W. rotundipennis within households during both wet (May) and dry (August) seasons, anthropophilic behavior demonstrated by human blood in 95.23% (60/63) evaluable blood-engorged specimens, and natural infection (5/168–3%) with genetically similar parasites of the Leishmania (Viannia) subgenus observed in a patient in this community, support the involvement of W. rotundipennis in the domestic transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis in “La Cabaña”.

Complex ecological interactions across a focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Eastern Colombia: novel description of Leishmania species, hosts and phlebotomine fauna

“…walkeri and Pi . robusta , have never been previously implicated in Leishmania transmission [ 50 , 51 ]. Further studies are needed to determine how the presence of Leishmania DNA correlates with transmission of the parasite.…”

“…These results concur with the high prediction values between the distribution of Pi. ovallesi in transformed environments, such as agro-ecosystems (sugar cane and oil palm plantations), estimated for the country [ 51 ] and the diversity of this species in the study area (electronic supplementary material, figure S3). In other regions of Colombia, Lu .…”

Evaluating the spatial distribution of Leishmania parasites in Colombia from clinical samples and human isolates (1999 to 2016)

“…Additionally, studies at smaller scales have been conducted, including active search of leishmaniases cases, sand fly collections, and identification of potential reservoirs to pinpoint foci of disease transmission; these studies have allowed to fill in information gaps on the distribution of Leishmania [18–20]. However, a long term and large-scale study has not been performed yet.…”

Climatic niche conservatism in a clade of disease vectors (Diptera: Phlebotominae)

“…Even though species within two other genera in the family (Sergentomyia and Warileya, (Lawyer et al 1990;Mukherjee et al 1997;Campino et al 2013;Kanjanopas et al 2013;Moreno et al 2015)) can be infected with Leishmania, they do not transmit the parasite. All other species in the family are known as moth-flies, some of which can cause human myasis (i.e., infection of skin tissue with larvae (Sarkar et al 2018;Pijáček and Kudělková 2020)) and are commonly human commensals (Sparkes and Anderson 2010).…”