Studies of host preferences of wild-caughtPhlebotomus orientalisandPh. papatasivectors of leishmaniasis in Sudan

Introduction Understanding the feeding behavior and host choice of sand flies provides valuable information on vector-host relationships and elucidates the epidemiological patterns of leishmaniasis transmission. Blood meal analysis studies are essential for estimating the efficiency of pathogen transmission, assessing the relative human disease risk, and assist in identifying the other potential hosts of leishmaniasis. In Sudan and most of East Africa, there are large remaining gaps in knowledge regarding the feeding habits of phlebotomine vectors. The study aimed to identify the blood meal sources and, therefore, the host preferences of the principal vectorsPhlebotomus orientalisandPh.papatasiin leishmaniasis endemic areas of eastern and central Sudan. Materials and methods Sand flies were collected from two endemic villages in eastern and central Sudan using CDC light traps and sticky traps. The phlebotomine sand flies were morphologically and then molecularly identified. The source of blood meal of the engorged females was determined using a multiplex PCR methodology and specific primers of cytochromebgene of mitochondrial DNA for human, goat, cow, and dog. The detection of theLeishmaniaparasite was done using PCR. Results The total number of collected female phlebotomine sand flies was 180. Morphological identification revealed the abundance ofPh.orientalis103 (57.2%),Ph.papatasi42 (23.3%),Ph.bergeroti31 (17.2%),Ph.rodhaini2 (1.1%) andPh.duboscqi2 (1.1%) in the study sites. Out of the 180 collected, 31 (17%) were blood-fed flies. Three species were blood-fed and molecularly identified:Ph.papatasi(N = 7, 22.6%),Ph.bergeroti(N = 9, 26%), andPh.orientalis(N = 15, 48.4%). Blood meal analysis revealed human DNA in twoPh.orientalis(6.4%), hence, the anthropophilic index was 13.3%. Conclusions Multiplex PCR protocol described here allowed the identification of blood meal sources of many vertebrate species simultaneously. The results indicate that wild-caughtPh.orientalisare anthropophilic in the study areas. Further studies on larger blood-fed sample size are required to validate the potential applications of this technique in designing, monitoring and evaluating control programs, particularly in investigating the potential non-human hosts of leishmaniasis.