Experimental transmission of Leishmania major to vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) by bites of Phlebotomus duboscqi (Diptera: Psychodidae).
Date
1990-03Author
Lawyer, PG
Githure, JI
Anjili, CO
Olobo, JO
Koech, DK
Reid, GD
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Experimental transmission of Leishmania major to vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) was accomplished by bites of Phlebotomus duboscqi sandflies. Three-day-old, laboratory-reared P. duboscqi were fed on leishmanial lesions on hamsters infected with L. major. The flies were re-fed on monkeys 10 d after infection. Five adult male vervet monkeys were used in concurrent transmission trials. Two of the monkeys received subcutaneous inoculations with stationary-phase promastigotes (2 x 10(6) promastigotes in 0.1 ml of medium) on the base of the tail. Putatively infected P. duboscqi were allowed to feed on the remaining 3 monkeys at sites on the base of the tail and on the right eyebrow. Challenges by sandfly bites resulted in multiple leishmanial lesions at all bite sites and, consequently, more lesion area than was produced by needle challenges. Post-feeding dissection of sandflies indicated that multiple lesions could be caused by bites of a single fly, and that probing alone, without imbibing blood, was sufficient for transmission. These first experimental transmissions of L. major to vervets by bites of P. duboscqi demonstrate that sandfly challenge is an efficient alternative to needle challenge, making available a unique Leishmania-sandfly-non-human primate model for use in vaccine development.
Citation
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1990 Mar-Apr;84(2):229-32.Publisher
University of Nairobi. Department of Zoology