Prevalence of Leishmania in sand fly in Pakistan

The study was conducted from may 2007 to june 2008 to cover all the four seasons. in this study the highest prevalence was recorded in the south of pakistan (789) followed by the west (580) and northern region (533). the sand flies were collected,reared in a laboratory and their entire life-cycle studied. the species of sand-flies found in pakistan belong to genus phlebotomus,and the species identified were p. sergenti; p. papatasi; p. orientalis; p. major; p. longipes; p. bergeroti; p. alexandri; p.argentipes and p. pedifer. under laboratory conditions the entire life-cycle was completed in 20 to 40 days. the flies collected from the endemic areas were dissected and the promastigotes were collected from salivary glands and fore-gut. the infective stages could not be revealed from mid and hind-guts or from the reproductive systems. the promastigotes belonged to the genus leishmania. rabbits were experimentally infected to examine the progression of lesions and the resultant pathology. out of 80 rabbits 78 developed characteristic lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis at the site of subcutaneous injection (88%). © 2012 zoological society of pakistan.