Comparison of different species of sandflies (Diptera, Phlebotomidae) for their ability to attack man
Strelkova, M.V.
Meditsinskaia Parazitologiia i Parazitarnye Bolezni 43(4): 434-441
1974
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8326 PMID: 4278906 Document Number: 77992
Studies were carried out in 1972 on the relative numbers of different Phlebotomine species that attacked man in specially constructed huts 5.0 X 2.5 X 2.5 m wide set up in the Karshinskaya steppe (Soviet Union), where cutaneous leishmaniasis [caused by Leishmania tropica major] is endemic [cf. preceding abstract, etc.]. The 7 species of Phlebotomines present in the area were Phlebotomus papatasi (Scop.), P. caucasicus Marts., P. andrejevi Shakirzyanova, P. mongolensis Sinton, P. sergenti Parr., Sergentomyia arpaklensis (Perfil'ev) and S. grekovi (Khodukin). Females of all 7 were tested, and the effects of different volunteers, the amount of skin exposed, the distance of the flies from the volunteer and the state of hunger and physiological age of the flies were also investigated. The results showed that neither species of Sergentomyia attacked man and that P. papatasi attacked far more readily than the remaining species. In a test in which 90% of the skin of the volunteer was exposed, the percentages of females that attacked were 74.3 for P. papatasi, 33.3 for P. sergenti and P. mongolensis, 4.3 for P. caucasicus and 0 for P. andrejevi. It is concluded that P. papatasi is the most important vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the area studied.