Eco-epidemiology studies on vectors of tegumentary Leishmaniasis in Argentina.

SALOMON OD; QUINTANA MG; FERNÁNDEZ MS; ROSA JR; MASTRÁNGELO AV; MANTECA ACOSTA M; FUENZALIDA D; SZELAG EA; PARRAS MA; REMONDEGUI CV; SANTINI MS; ACARDI SA; MARTINEZ MF; VILLARQUIDE L; LIOTTA DJ; GOULD I

Kusadasi

Simposio; 7th International Symposium on Phlebotomine Sand flies; 2011

These studies are based on captures of phlebotomine performed in 9 provinces of Argentina endemic for Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (TL), and 4 provinces with phlebotomine but without cases. Since the outbreaks of 1985, 1998 and 2002 the TL incidence in humans in Argentina remains in a low endemic channel, but hot spots were reported with scattered small outbreaks (993 cumulated cases from 2002 to 2010). Lutzomyia neivai was incriminated as the main vector by ecological association and natural infection with Leishmania braziliensis, in moderate to intense modified environments, while in the central xerophytic region of Chaco both Lu. migonei (experimental infection) and Lu. cortelezzii (natural infection - col PR Brazil) were incriminated as vectors, and in the northeastern less modified subtropical forest Lu. whitmani was found infected with Leishmania and associated with humans cases. Micro-scale: Captures were performed with standardized methodology and during the same periods in the three bio-regions NW, Chaco (both dry and wet Chaco) and NE (500,000 km2) looking for association of phlebotomine abundance with climate and micro-environmental variables. For the whole country 28 species were reported, the new records belongs to the Chaco and NE regions. In the NW the border effect in the interface between primaryforest and crop cultures was assessed for Lu. neivai. In the same region the pattern of activity by hour in different seasons, and its association with weather conditions were studied. Focus-scale: The spatial distribution of abundance by species was associated with environmental variables at focus scale in the NW and NE regions (urbanization, forest edges, animal breeding, monkey?s trees), while in the Chaco region Lu. migonei natural breeding sites were described. In the NE, in a deforested area with immediate human settlement, the anthropological, entomological, reservoir and biomedical data were shared with the community to generate together with the technical team a prevention strategy by community participation. Macro-scale: To develop an exploratory map of Lu. neivai and Lu. migonei potential distributions in the NW with a Maximum Entropy's Modeling System (MaxEnt) method, 97 points of records performed during the same period, 19 bioclimatic variables and a digital elevation model were used. The Jackknife's test was performed, and the ?rainfall of the driest month? was the variable that best generalized. The precision was evaluated by the area under the curve and, was validated by the Cohen's kappa index using records of the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Chaco, Tucumán and Santiago del Estero. The analytical strategy will be used for the other regions.