Ecology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sinai: linking parasites,vectors and hosts

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected clinical form of public health importancethat is quite prevalent in the northern and eastern parts of Egypt. A comprehensivestudy over seven years (January 2005-December 2011) was conducted to track CLtransmission with respect to both sandfly vectors and animal reservoirs. The studyidentified six sandfly species collected from different districts in North Sinai:Phlebotomus papatasi, Phlebotomus kazeruni,Phlebotomus sergenti, Phlebotomus alexandri,Sergentomyia antennata and Sergentomyia clydei.Leishmania (-)-like flagellates were identified in 15 P.papatasi individuals (0.5% of 3,008 dissected females). Rodentpopulations were sampled in the same districts where sandflies were collected andeight species were identified: Rattus norvegicus (n = 39),Rattus rattus frugivorous (n = 13), Rattus rattusalexandrinus (n = 4), Gerbillus pyramidum floweri (n =38), Gerbillus andersoni (n = 28), Mus musculus (n= 5), Meriones sacramenti (n = 22) and Merionescrassus (n = 10). Thirty-two rodents were found to be positive forLeishmania infection (20.12% of 159 examined rodents). OnlyLeishmania major was isolated and identified in 100% of theparasite samples. The diversity of both the vector and rodent populations wasexamined using diversity indices and clustering approaches.