WHO's Leishmaniasis Press Release

[P.Ready at nhm.ac.uk]

>     Press Release WHO/24
>     13 February 1998     
>     DRAMATIC UPSURGE IN VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS CASES IN THE HORN OF AFRICA

Dear Sir/Madam,

I realize that vector identification studies are not the first priority for
dealing with the upsurge in the Horn of Africa, but they will play some
part in monitoring the effectiveness of insecticide-impregnated bednets.
The Horn of Africa is the home of several little-studied Phlebotomus
species classified in groups (subgenera) that contain many vectors of
Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum, infections of which lead to
visceral leishmaniasis. As part of a TDR training grant, Miss Selma
Esseghir (Institut Pasteur de Tunis) has been working in my laboratory,
using DNA sequence analysis to identify and relate species of Larroussius
and related phlebotomines (including Phlebotomus orientalis, the vector of
Leishmania donovani in Sudan). This unpublished database puts us in an
unique position to recognize new species of phlebotomines and to resolve
the identification of little-known species named in the literature. This
laboratory would be pleased to help any (African) entomologists who are
finding it difficult to identify Phlebotomus caught in the Horn of Africa.


Best wishes,

Paul Ready PhD

Head of Molecular Systematics Division, Dept of Entomology, The Natural
History Museum, London SW7 5BD

Fax 44 (0)171 938 8937
Tel 44 (0)171 938 9356/8747


Some references:

Esseghir, S., Ready, P.D., Killick-Kendrick R. & Ben-Ismail, R. (1997)
Mitochondrial haplotypes and phylogeography of Phlebotomus vectors of
Leishmania major. Insect Molecular Biology 6, 211-225.

Ready, P.D., Day, J.C., de Souza, A.A., Rangel, E.F. & Davies, C.R. (1997).
Mitochondrial DNA characterization of populations of Lutzomyia whitmani
(Diptera: Psychodidae) incriminated in the peri-domestic and silvatic
transmission of Leishmania species in Brazil. Bulletin of Entomological
Research 87, 187-195.

Seccombe, A.K., Ready, P.D. & Huddleston, L.M. (1993) A catalogue of Old
World phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae).
Occasional Papers on Systematic Entomology 8, 1-57.