Molecular Epidemiology for Vector Research on Leishmaniasis

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Hirotomo Kato²  Eduardo A Gomez⁴  Abraham G Cres¹  Hiroshi Uezato³  Tatsuyuki Mimori⁵ 

[1] Sección de Entomología, Instituto de Medicina Tropical “Daniel A. Carrion”, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Lima 1, Perú; E-Mail:;Department of Veterinary Hygiene, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8515, Japan;Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0125, Japan; E-Mail:;Departamento de Oncocercosis, Servicio Nacional de Erradicacion de la Malaria, Ministerio de Salud Publica, Guayaquil 10833, Ecuador; E-Mail:;Department of Microbiology, School of Health Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 862-0976, Japan; E-Mail:

关键词: Leishmania;    sand fly;    epidemiology;    mass screening;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph7030814

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Leishmaniasis is a protozoan disease caused by the genus Leishmania transmitted by female phlebotomine sand flies. Surveillance of the prevalence of Leishmania and responsive vector species in endemic and surrounding areas is important for predicting the risk and expansion of the disease. Molecular biological methods are now widely applied to epidemiological studies of infectious diseases including leishmaniasis. These techniques are used to detect natural infections of sand fly vectors with Leishmania protozoa and are becoming powerful tools due to their sensitivity and specificity. Recently, genetic analyses have been performed on sand fly species and genotyping using PCR-RFLP has been applied to the sand fly taxonomy. In addition, a molecular mass screening method has been established that enables both sand fly species and natural leishmanial infections to be identified simultaneously in hundreds of sand flies with limited effort. This paper reviews recent advances in the study of sand flies, vectors of leishmaniasis, using molecular biological approaches.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2010 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.