Tegumentary leishmaniasis outbreak in Bella Vista City, Corrientes, Argentina during 2003

. SALOMÓN ODS, SOSA-ESTANI S, RAMOS K, ORELLANOM PW, SANGUESA G, FERNÁNDEZ G, SINAGRA A, RAPASCIOLLI G

MEMóRIAS DO INSTITUTO OSWALDO CRUZ.

Año: 2006 vol. 101 p. 767 - 774

0074-0276

Bella Vista City, Corrientes, Argentina, reported an epidemic outbreak of tegumentary leishmaniasis during 2003. The mean age of the 31 cases was 25.0 +/- 13.7 years old, with a sex ratio male:female 1.8, and without mucosal involvement. They clustered in two contiguous neighbourhoods, 96% in the periurban border and 4% in the peripheral outskirts. The transmission peak was estimated to have occurred during April 2003. Four species (3608 sand flies) were captured in nine sites: Lutzomyia neivai (90.1%), Lu. pessoai (8.9%), Lu. migonei (0.8 %), and Brumptomyia avellari (0.2 %). The outskirts/rural capture ratio of Lu. neivai was up to 3, and the outskirts/periurban up to 200. Therefore, the ´urban´ transmission in this southernmost known focus is still an ecotone-border associated risk. The changes in human distribution or activities, patches of the secondary vegetation, periurban streams, rainfall of the previous year, and river period floods could all contribute to ´urban´ outbreaks in the region. Tegumentary leishmaniasis risk should be assessed for any project that involves changes in land use throughout an endemic area.