Distribution of sandflies species in a locality endemic for american tegumentary leishmaniasis from the north of Argentina, bordering with Bolivia

COPA, N; MARCO, JD; NASSER, JR; GIL, JF

Misiones

Simposio; VIII International Symposium on Phlebotomine Sandflies; 2014

Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical

Some sandflies species can vectorize Leishmania protozoan parasites which cause America tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL). This disease is endemic in Argentina, with high incidence in department of Oran, Salta Province. Previous studies have reported the presence of sand flies in environments that include wilderness areas, secondary vegetation, rural, peri-urban and urban areas. The Aguas Blancas, city located in Oran, is scenary of a fluid transit of people between Argentina and Bolivia. The aim of this study was to analyze and describe the abundance and geographic sandflies distribution in Aguas Blancas, border locality of the north of Argentina. The study was conducted in October 2013 in nine sampling sites, which corresponded to residential courtyards widely distributed in the town. The capture of sandflies was performed by CDC traps placed three consecutive nights from 19:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The distribution maps were generated using ArcGIS 9.2 software and statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test. A total of 230 specimens were captured: cortelezzii complex (30%), Evandromyia sallesi (28.26%), Nyssomyia neivai (24.35%), Mygonemyia migonei (16.52%). The 12.87% of the females were in a gravid state. The sites with higher sandflies abundance were located at the edges of the city, decreasing to zero in the center (p<0.0001). The cortelezzii complex was the most abundant and showed a wider geographical distribution that Ny. neivai (p<0.001). Thus, this is the first report for rain forest region, in which Ny. neivai there is not found as the dominant specie. Sandflies species found during this study are suspected of transmitting ATL. Since Aguas Blancas is an area with constant flow of persons for a migration process through the customs office located in the city. Thus, it is important to consider the risk of transmission of this disease specially when considering the potential exposure of non-immune population from different places of Argentina and Bolivia.