Lutzomyia ovallesi (Diptera: Psychodidae) as a vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Venezuela
Bonfante-Garrido, R.; Spinetti, H.; Cupillo, E.; Momen, H.; Grimaldi, G.
Parassitologia 33(Suppl): 99-104
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0048-2951 PMID: 1841263 Document Number: 370051
Phlebotomine sandflies were collected on human bait, in CDC and Shannon traps or by aspiration from tree holes in the Baro Negra forest, Duaca, Lara State, Venezuela, during February-June 1990. 4864 females of 11 species of Lutzomyia were dissected and examined for promastigotes of Leishmania spp. Natural infection was found in 25 of 4533 (0.5%) Lutzomyia ovallesi. By biological parameters and enzyme electrophoresis, all isolates of Leishmania from Lutzomyia ovallesi were indistinguishable from those obtained from humans and dogs in the same region. The isoenzyme profile of these isolates appeared to indicate that strains were a hybrid between Leishmania braziliensis and L. guyanensis.