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First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo

Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are the principal vectors of phleboviruses and Leishmania spp., the causative agents of leishmaniases. The Mediterranean sand fly fauna is diverse, and leishmaniasis, mainly caused by Leishmania infantum, is endemic in the Balkan countries. Despite rece...

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Autores principales: Xhekaj, Betim, Hoxha, Ina, Platzgummer, Katharina, Kniha, Edwin, Walochnik, Julia, Sherifi, Kurtesh, Rexhepi, Agim, Behluli, Behlul, Dvořák, Vit, Fuehrer, Hans-Peter, Obwaller, Adelheid G., Poeppl, Wolfgang, Stefanovska, Jovana, Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10610191/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37887706
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12101190
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author Xhekaj, Betim
Hoxha, Ina
Platzgummer, Katharina
Kniha, Edwin
Walochnik, Julia
Sherifi, Kurtesh
Rexhepi, Agim
Behluli, Behlul
Dvořák, Vit
Fuehrer, Hans-Peter
Obwaller, Adelheid G.
Poeppl, Wolfgang
Stefanovska, Jovana
Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar
author_facet Xhekaj, Betim
Hoxha, Ina
Platzgummer, Katharina
Kniha, Edwin
Walochnik, Julia
Sherifi, Kurtesh
Rexhepi, Agim
Behluli, Behlul
Dvořák, Vit
Fuehrer, Hans-Peter
Obwaller, Adelheid G.
Poeppl, Wolfgang
Stefanovska, Jovana
Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar
author_sort Xhekaj, Betim
collection PubMed
description Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are the principal vectors of phleboviruses and Leishmania spp., the causative agents of leishmaniases. The Mediterranean sand fly fauna is diverse, and leishmaniasis, mainly caused by Leishmania infantum, is endemic in the Balkan countries. Despite recent entomological surveys, only some districts of Kosovo have been sampled for sand flies, with no proof/confirmation of L. infantum. This study aimed to gain further insights into the species composition of natural sand fly populations in previously unsampled districts and areas in Kosovo without reports of leishmaniasis and to detect Leishmania DNA in sand flies. A sand fly survey was conducted in 2022 in all seven districts of Kosovo. Collected females were screened for Leishmania DNA by PCR. Positive samples were sequenced and subjected to maximum likelihood analysis with reference sequences for further molecular characterization. The trapping activities at 114 different localities resulted in 3272 caught specimens, comprising seven sand fly species of two genera, namely Phlebotomus neglectus, Ph. perfiliewi, Ph. tobbi, Ph. papatasi, Ph. simici, Ph. balcanicus and Sergentomyia minuta. Leishmania infantum DNA was detected in three individual sand flies of Ph. neglectus and Ph. perfiliewi. This study provides the most extensive sand fly survey in Kosovo and reports the first record of L. infantum DNA in sand flies, indicating autochthonous circulation of L. infantum.
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spelling pubmed-106101912023-10-28 First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo Xhekaj, Betim Hoxha, Ina Platzgummer, Katharina Kniha, Edwin Walochnik, Julia Sherifi, Kurtesh Rexhepi, Agim Behluli, Behlul Dvořák, Vit Fuehrer, Hans-Peter Obwaller, Adelheid G. Poeppl, Wolfgang Stefanovska, Jovana Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar Pathogens Article Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are the principal vectors of phleboviruses and Leishmania spp., the causative agents of leishmaniases. The Mediterranean sand fly fauna is diverse, and leishmaniasis, mainly caused by Leishmania infantum, is endemic in the Balkan countries. Despite recent entomological surveys, only some districts of Kosovo have been sampled for sand flies, with no proof/confirmation of L. infantum. This study aimed to gain further insights into the species composition of natural sand fly populations in previously unsampled districts and areas in Kosovo without reports of leishmaniasis and to detect Leishmania DNA in sand flies. A sand fly survey was conducted in 2022 in all seven districts of Kosovo. Collected females were screened for Leishmania DNA by PCR. Positive samples were sequenced and subjected to maximum likelihood analysis with reference sequences for further molecular characterization. The trapping activities at 114 different localities resulted in 3272 caught specimens, comprising seven sand fly species of two genera, namely Phlebotomus neglectus, Ph. perfiliewi, Ph. tobbi, Ph. papatasi, Ph. simici, Ph. balcanicus and Sergentomyia minuta. Leishmania infantum DNA was detected in three individual sand flies of Ph. neglectus and Ph. perfiliewi. This study provides the most extensive sand fly survey in Kosovo and reports the first record of L. infantum DNA in sand flies, indicating autochthonous circulation of L. infantum. MDPI 2023-09-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10610191/ /pubmed/37887706 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12101190 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Xhekaj, Betim
Hoxha, Ina
Platzgummer, Katharina
Kniha, Edwin
Walochnik, Julia
Sherifi, Kurtesh
Rexhepi, Agim
Behluli, Behlul
Dvořák, Vit
Fuehrer, Hans-Peter
Obwaller, Adelheid G.
Poeppl, Wolfgang
Stefanovska, Jovana
Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar
First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo
title First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo
title_full First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo
title_fullStr First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo
title_full_unstemmed First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo
title_short First Detection and Molecular Analysis of Leishmania infantum DNA in Sand Flies of Kosovo
title_sort first detection and molecular analysis of leishmania infantum dna in sand flies of kosovo
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10610191/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37887706
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12101190
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