Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in eight Balkan countries: historical review and region-wide entomological survey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are medically important vectors of human and veterinary disease-causing agents. Among these, the genus Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), and phleboviruses are of utmost importance. Despite such significance, updated information about sand fly fauna is missing for Balkan countries where both sand flies and autochtonous leishmaniases are historically present and recently re-emerging. Therefore, a review of historical data on sand fly species composition and distribution in the region was followed by a large-scale entomological survey in eight Balkan countries to provide a recent update on local sand fly fauna.

Methods

The literature search involved the period 1910-2019. The entomological survey was conducted at 1189 sam

SUBMITTER: Dvorak V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7661266 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature