After infection with Leishmania infantum, Golden Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) become more attractive to female sand flies (Lutzomyia longipalpis)

In Brazil, human and canine visceral leishmaniasis is caused by infection with Leishmania infantum, a Protist parasite transmitted by blood-feeding female Lutzomyia longipalpis sand flies. The objective of this study was to determine if the odour of hamsters, infected with Le. infantum, was more attractive than the odour of the same hamsters, before they were infected. The attractiveness of odour collected from individual hamsters (n = 13), before they were infected, was compared in a longitudinal study, with the attractiveness of the odour of the same hamster in a Y-tube olfactometer bioassay, at a late stage of infection. The odour of six of the golden hamsters was significantly more attractive to 50% of the female sand flies at the end of infection compared to before infection and the odour of four of the golden hamsters was significantly more attractive to 75% of the female sand flies at the end of infection. These results strongly indicate that hamsters infected with Le. infantum become significantly more attractive to a greater proportion of female sand flies as the infection progresses.