Blood Meal Analysis of Phlebotomine Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) forspp. Identification and Vertebrate Blood Origin, Central Tunisia, 2015-2016.

Abstract

During the time periods of June 2015 and from July to August 2016, sandflies were collected among seven collection sites of the three leishmaniasis endemic villages of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. A total of 690 sandflies were captured and identified (380 males and 310 females). Four species belonging to genus() and two species belonging to genuswere identified.DNA was detected in four out of 310 females (oneand three). The overall sensitivity of thegene detection reached 76%. The concurrent presence ofandvectors, the analysis of blood-meals, together with the detection ofin, confirms the ultimate conditions for the transmission of the disease in center Tunisia. These results expand the known epidemiological area of distrubtion of leishmaniasis and its vectors in this part of Tunisia, highlighting the need for ongoing entomological and parasitological surveillance.