Morphological identification of sand flies of Fars province in 2018-2019

Background: Leishmaniasis is a group of the arthropod-borne diseases and the second post-malaria protozoan disease with numerous populations in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.Classically, human leishmaniasis is divided into three forms: visceral leishmaniasis, cutaneous leishmaniasis, and mucosal cutaneous leishmaniasis. The disease is transmitted to humans and other vertebrate hosts by infectious sand flies bites. Fars province in southern Iran is one of the most important endemic area of leishmaniasis.Objectives: The aim of study was to identified important vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Fars province.Materials and Methods: This study was carried out to identify species of sandflies distributed in Fars province in southern Iran. Sandflies were collected from different cities of the province, including: Marvdasht, Kherameh, Zarrin Dasht, and Larestan, using sticky traps from 2018-2019 and were identified by available diagnostic keys.Results: In this study, a total of 626 sandflies were collected from cities with endemic leishmaniasis, of which 477 were collected indoors and 149 were collected from outside. Phlebotomus papatasi (49%), Sergentomyia sintoni (29%) and Phlebotomus alexsandri (15%) were the most common species among 626 collected sandflies.Conclusion: This study showed that , Phlebotomus papatasi is the most prevalent species that plays an important role in transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Fars province, the province s health system must take steps to control cutaneous leishmaniasis and raise awareness of the disease and ways to prevent it.

Keywords:

Phlebotomus papatasi , Cutaneous leishmaniasis , Fars province