Seasonal dynamics, Leishmania diversity, and nanopore-based metabarcoding of blood meal origins in Culicoides spp. in the newly emerging focus of leishmaniasis in Northern Thailand.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Clinical cases of leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania (Mundinia) parasites have been increasingly reported in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand. Recent evidence has shown that Leishmania (Mundinia) parasites successfully developed into infective metacyclic promastigotes in Culicoides biting midges, strongly supporting their putative role in disease transmission. However, Culicoides diversity, host preference, and Leishmania prevalence in endemic areas remain largely unknown.

Methods

We investigated the seasonal dynamics, infection prevalence, and blood meal identification of Culicoides collected from the emerging focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Lampang Province, Northern Thailand, during 2021-2023. Midge samples were molecularly screened for Leishmania using

SUBMITTER: Promrangsee C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11414243 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature