Isolation and Molecular Typing of Leishmania infantum from Phlebotomus perfiliewi in a Re-Emerging Focus of Leishmaniasis, Northeastern Italy.

ABSTRACT: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania (L.) infantum is a public health threat in the Emilia-Romagna region, northeastern Italy, but its epidemiology has not been fully elucidated in this area. The objective of this study was to characterize Leishmania infection in sand flies collected in a re-emerging focus of VL in the Bologna province. During the summer of 2016, 6114 sand flies were collected, identified, and tested for Leishmania detection. Of the identified sand flies, 96.5% were Phlebotomus (P.) perfiliewi and 3.5% were P. perniciosus. Detected parasites were characterized by biomolecular methods (multilocus microsatellite typing and characterization of repetitive region on chromosome 31), and quantified by real-time PCR. The prevalence of Leishmania infection in individual

SUBMITTER: Calzolari M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6955719 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature