Spread of Leishmania killicki to central and south-west Tunisa

International audienceTwenty cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases were notified from December 2001 to February 2002, in a small village in the district of Oueslatia (governorate of Kairouan, central Tunisia) which is an endemic focus of infantile visceral leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (L.) infantum and that hod never been concerned previously by CL. The parasite typing of two isolates obtained from two children that have never left the region has identified L. killicki. This species hod only been reported previously in a limited focus of Tunisian Southeast. In October 2002, an epidemiological survey with isoenzym characterization of the parasite led in a well-known focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis of South-West Tunisia also revealed the presence of L. killicki. These results suggest the spread of this species and stress the need of further investigations for a better control of CL in Tunisia

First Molecular Epidemiological Study of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Libya

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. The disease is characterized by the formation of chronic skin lesions followed by permanent scars and deformation of the infected area. It is distributed in many tropical and subtropical countries with more than 2 million cases every year. During the past few years CL has emerged as a major public health problem in Libya. So far, diagnosis was based on clinical symptoms and microscopic observation of parasites. Disease outbreaks were not investigated and the causative leishmanial species of CL were not identified so far. Our study indicates the presence of two coexisting species: Leishmania major and Leishmania tropica. These results are crucial in order to provide accurate treatment, precise prognosis and appropriate public health control measures. The recent armed conflict in Libya that ended with the Gadhafi regime collapse on October 2011 has affected all aspects of the life in the country. In this study we discussed multiple risk factors that could be associated with this conflict and present major challenges that should be considered by local and national health authorities for evaluating the CL burden and highlighting priority actions for disease control

Thermal and Airflow Modelling of Mediterranean Buildings: Application to Thermal Comfort in Summer

International audienc

Thermal and Airflow Modelling of Mediterranean Buildings: Application to Thermal Comfort in Summer

International audienc

Phlebotominae (Diptera : Psychodidae) of human leishmaniosis sites in Tunisia

International audienceIn order to identify the phlebotomine sandfly populations in Tunisian leishmaniosis foci, an entomological survey was carried out through three entomological seasons (2002-2003-2004) in 19 visceral and cutaneous leishmaniosis areas, located in six bioclimatic zones. Sandfly collections were based on light and sticky traps placed around human leishmaniosis cases. 8,722 phlebotomine sandflies belonging to 12 species were collected. The dominance of subgenus Lorroussius species in northern foci, Phlebotomus papatasi in south-western foci and their co-dominance in the centre of the country is in accordance with the distribution of Leishmania infantum and L. major in Tunisia. The low density found in the historical zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniosis focus of Metlaoui in the south-west may indicate the high competence of the local populations. Studied phlebotomine settlements have showed a low specific diversity in most of the studied sites. In L. infantum areas, the dominant species were respectively: P. perfiliewi in the cutaneous leishmaniosis site of the humid bioclimatic stage, P. perniciosus in the cutaneous and visceral leishmaniosis foci of semi-arid and and bioclimatic stages and P. longicuspis in the visceral lershmaniosis focus of Saharan bioclimate. In the zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniosis foci, P. papatosi was a dominant species. In the well-known southeastern foci of cutaneous leishmaniosis due to L. killicki, P. sergenti was a dominant species with P. perniciosus. In the central emerging foci of L. killicki, P. pemiciosus was a dominant species in some sites whereas it was very rare in others. In these sites, the subgenus Paraphlebotomus was always present with a higher abundance of P. alexandri than P. sergenti

Spread of Leishmania killicki to Central and South-West Tunisia

Twenty cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) cases were notified from December 2001 to February 2002, in a small village in the district of Oueslatia (governorate of Kairouan, central Tunisia) which is an endemic focus of infantile visceral leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (L.) infantum and that had never been concerned previously by CL. The parasite typing of two isolates obtained from two children that have never left the region has identified L. killicki. This species had only been reported previously in a limited focus of Tunisian Southeast. In October 2002, an epidemiological survey with isoenzym characterization of the parasite led in a well-known focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis of South-West Tunisia also revealed the presence of L. killicki. These results suggest the spread of this species and stress the need of further investigations for a better control of CL in Tunisia

Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidae) of human leishmaniosis sites in Tunisia

In order to identify the phlebotomine sandfly populations in Tunisian leishmaniosis foci, an entomological survey was carried out through three entomological seasons (2002-2003-2004) in 19 visceral and cutaneous leishmaniosis areas, located in six bioclimatic zones. Sandfly collections were based on light and sticky traps placed around human leishmaniosis cases. 8,722 phlebotomine sandflies belonging to 12 species were collected. The dominance of subgenus Larroussius species in northern foci, Phlebotomus papatasi in south-western foci and their co-dominance in the centre of the country is in accordance with the distribution of Leishmania infantum and L. major in Tunisia. The low density found in the historical zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniosis focus of Metlaoui in the south-west may indicate the high competence of the local populations. Studied phlebotomine settlements have showed a low specific diversity in most of the studied sites. In L. infantum areas, the dominant species were respectively: P. perfiliewi in the cutaneous leishmaniosis site of the humid bioclimatic stage, P. perniciosus in the cutaneous and visceral leishmaniosis foci of semi-arid and arid bioclimatic stages and P. longicuspis in the visceral leishmaniosis focus of saharan bioclimate. In the zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniosis foci, P. papatasi was a dominant species. In the well-known southeastern foci of cutaneous leishmaniosis due to L. killicki, P. sergenti was a dominant species with P. perniciosus. In the central emerging foci of L. killicki, P. perniciosus was a dominant species in some sites whereas it was very rare in others. In these sites, the subgenus Paraphlebotomus was always present with a higher abundance of P. alexandri than P. sergenti

Delivery vectors for minerals at early life stages of marine fish.

The hatchery phase remains as one of the production bottlenecks in marine fish aquaculture, mainly due to the poor development, high mortality rates and weakness of fish larvae at hatching. Efforts have been made during the last years to develop and improve microdiets efficiency to replace live feed, both rotifers and Artemia, as complete or partial replacements for the early larval stages of fish. However, there is still a lack of knowledge in nutritional requirements of fish larvae. Despite the importance of trace minerals as essential ingredients in fish diets, little is known on mineral nutrition in marine fish larvae. Common live preys used in commercial hatcheries such as rotifers are much lower in their content incertain minerals than copepods (Hamre et al., 2008) and, in some cases, are even lower than the requirements estimated for juveniles or adults. Among trace elements, the physiological role of iron, manganese, selenium and zinc is well recognized, as components of body fluids, cofactors in enzymatic reactions, and structural units of non-enzymatic macromolecules, etc. Selenium, required for normal growth and physiological function, is an integral part of glutathione peroxidase taking part in the cellular defense against oxidative damage of cytoplasmic structures. Increase in dietary Se reduces the incidence of muscle dystrophy in larval seabass (Betancor et al., 2013) and improves larval survival, stress resistance and bone mineralization (Saleh et al., 2014). Zinc, despite being an important trace element for normal fish growth and skeletal development, has not been extensively studied in larvae. Dietary manganese (Mn) is also required for normal growth and prevention of skeletal abnormalities and activates specific enzymes. Iron (Fe) is important for many metabolic functions such as oxygen transport or neurological development and it has an active part of a large number of proteins and enzymes. At present, no information is available regarding the optimum levels of Fe in first feeding or early weaning diets for marine fish larvae. One of the factors that affect absorption and utilization of trace elements is their chemical form. In view of the importance of icronutrients for fish metabolism and the lack of information on their importance for marine fish larvae, the overall objective of this study was to determine the effect of the inclusion of four minerals essential for metabolism during larval development: Fe, Mn, Se or Zn, considering four types of delivery forms to supplement these trace elements: organic, inorganic, nanometals or encapsulated in order to increase their availability for the larvae and prevent leaching and water loss in the culture medium