Sand fly (Diptera Psychodidae Phlebotominae) records in Acre, Brazil a Dataset

Amazonian phlebotomine fauna is considered one of the most diverse in the world. In addition, the region is the most prevalent for leishmaniasis in Brazil and South America. The state of Acre, which belongs to this region, also stands out in terms of the diversity of the sand fly fauna, as well as the occurrence of American tegumentary leishmaniasis. In this context, the present Dataset comprise a bibliographic review of sand fly species recorded in Acre State, Amazon region, Brazil. A total of 1,096 observations from Material Citation type (and two of preserved specimens) were presented using 32 variables according to Darwin Core terms. The bibliographic review was performed in PubMed, Google Scholar, SciELO, BVS (Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde) and bibliographic references cited in related scientific articles. Thus, the present study is a solid report for further studies on sand fly studies in Acre and other Amazon states

Online catalogue of the Coleção de Flebotomíneos (FIOCRUZ/COLFLEB), a biological collection of American sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) held at Fiocruz Minas, Brazil

The “Coleção de Flebotomíneos” (FIOCRUZ/COLFLEB) held at Fiocruz Minas is a curated biological collection comprised of approximately 80,000 individual specimens of 370 species of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) mostly from the Americas collected over the last 80 years by entomologists interested in understanding and controlling the vector-borne disease leishmaniases. Since 2010, the metadata of each of the individual biological specimens held in FIOCRUZ/COLFLEB, including the back catalogue of those deposited in previous decades, has been digitized. Here, our resulting electronic catalogue, containing records for 72,624 of the specimens, including all of the available provenance information associated with each of them, is published online through the speciesLink network <http://www.splink.org.br/search?collectioncode=FIOCRUZ11COLFLEB&group=animais&lang=pt&action=openform> and the Sistema de Informação sobre a Biodiversidade Brasileira (SiBBr) <http://ipt.fiocruz.br/ipt/resource?r=fiocruz_colfleb>.The “Coleção de Flebotomíneos” (FIOCRUZ/COLFLEB) held at Fiocruz Minas is a curated biological collection comprised of approximately 80,000 individual specimens of 370 species of sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) mostly from the Americas collected over the last 80 years by entomologists interested in understanding and controlling the vector-borne disease leishmaniases. Since 2010, the metadata of each of the individual biological specimens held in FIOCRUZ/COLFLEB, including the back catalogue of those deposited in previous decades, has been digitized. Here, our resulting electronic catalogue, containing records for 72,624 of the specimens, including all of the available provenance information associated with each of them, is published online through the speciesLink network <http://www.splink.org.br/search?collectioncode=FIOCRUZ11COLFLEB&group=animais&lang=pt&action=openform> and the Sistema de Informação sobre a Biodiversidade Brasileira (SiBBr) <http://ipt.fiocruz.br/ipt/resource?r=fiocruz_colfleb>

Chave de identificação ilustrada dos Phlebotominae (Diptera, Psychodidae) do estado de São Paulo, Brasil

Phlebotomine sand flies are medically important insects, responsible for the transmission of Leishmania parasites between humans and non-human animals, which are found throughout São Paulo state, Brazil. The correct identification of species implicated in the transmission of diseases is paramount to elaborate strategies for vector control. In order to produce an illustrated key to the 67 sand flies male species and 57 female species recorded in São Paulo state we examined and illustrated specimens mounted in microscope slides from entomological collections.Flebotomíneos são insetos de importância médica, responsáveis pela transmissão de parasitas do gênero Leishmania entre humanos e animais não humanos, os quais são encontrados no estado de São Paulo, Brasil. A correta identificação das espécies envolvidas na transmissão de doenças é fundamental para elaboração de estratégias para o controle desses vetores. Para produzir uma chave ilustrada para as 67 espécies de machos e 57 espécies de fêmeas de flebotomíneos registradas no estado de São Paulo, examinamos e ilustramos espécimes montados em lâminas de microscopia obtidos de coleções entomológicas

16S rRNA gene-based identification of microbiota associated with the parthenogenetic troglobiont sand fly Deanemyia maruaga (Diptera, Psychodidae) from central Amazon, Brazil

Bacteria associated with the parthenogenetic troglobiont sand fly Deanemyia maruaga were characterized by sequencing cloned 16S rDNA PCR products. Eleven novel partial 16S rDNA sequences, with varying degrees of similarity to Actinobacteria, were identified. None of the sequences identified had homology to those known from parthenogenesis-inducing bacteria. © 2013, Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia

Occurrence records and metadata for sand flies (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) collected in the lands of indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon

In order to contribute to knowledge of the epidemiology of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) among indigenous people living in sylvatic regions, we studied the sand fly fauna collected in areas of disease transmission in the Brazilian Amazon. Our two datasets reported here are comprised of occurrence data for sand flies from the Suruwaha Indigenous Land in the state of Amazonas collected between 2012-1013, and the Wajãpi Indigenous Land in the state of Amapá collected between 2013-2014. Sand flies were collected using unbaited CDC-like light traps at various sites within each study area and were identified to species-level by taxonomists with expertise in Amazonian fauna. A total of 4,646 records are reported: 1,428 from the Suruwaha and 3,218 from the Wajãpi. These records will contribute to a better understanding of ACL transmission dynamics, as well as the distribution of insect vectors, in these areas

Abordagens alternativas para a vigilância da leishmaniose tegumentar em áreas indígenas – estudo de caso entre os Wajãpi do Amapá

This paper aims to present the limitations of the surveillance system for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) overseen by the Ministry of Health in Brazil in indigenous areas, based on the accounts of technical experts and collaborators who worked on the surveillance of the disease among the Wajãpi indigenous people between 2012 and 2015. The study compares the standard approaches recommended by the Ministry of Health with alternative approaches in three main areas: case detection and diagnosis, treatment, and epidemiological analysis. In the latter area, methods that relate to risk analysis, entomology and the study of vertebrate hosts were compared. The comparison showed that approaches based on qualitative methods and knowledge about cultural patterns and specificities of the indigenous group increased the acceptability of the health service. Integrative approaches such as participatory community workshops involving community members acting as reporting agents working within the health service proved to be important alternatives for improving the sensitivity and representativeness of the CL monitoring system in indigenous areas. It is expected that the approaches compared in this study can form the basis for improvement in health surveillance systems, particularly for vector-borne diseases in indigenous areas.Este artigo tem por objetivo apresentar limitações do sistema de vigilância da Leishmaniose Tegumentar Americana (LTA) executado no âmbito do Ministério da Saúde em áreas indígenas, a partir do relato de experiência de técnicos e colaboradores que atuaram na vigilância da doença na Terra Indígena Wajãpi entre 2012 e 2015. O estudo compara as abordagens padrão preconizadas pelo Ministério da Saúde com abordagens alternativas entre três componentes principais: captação de casos e diagnóstico, tratamento e análise epidemiológica. Neste último componente, foram comparados métodos que se relacionam a análise de locais prováveis de infecção, entomologia e estudo de hospedeiros vertebrados. A comparação demonstrou que abordagens de cunho qualitativo e o conhecimento sobre padrões e espeficidades culturais do grupo indígena incrementaram a aceitabilidade do serviço de saúde. Abordagens integrativas como oficinas comunitárias, e, participativas que envolviam membros da comunidade como agentes de notificação e ação dentro do serviço, mostraram-se importantes alternativas para aperfeiçoamento da sensibilidade e representatividade do sistema de vigilância da LTA em áreas indígenas. Espera-se que as abordagens comparadas neste estudo possam servir de base para aperfeiçoamento de sistemas de vigilância em saúde, principalmente para doenças transmitidas por vetores em áreas indígenas

Publishing data to support the fight against human vector-borne diseases

Vector-borne diseases are responsible for more than 17% of human cases of infectious diseases. In most situations, effective control of debilitating and deadly vector-bone diseases (VBDs), such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika and Chagas requires up-to-date, robust and comprehensive information on the presence, diversity, ecology, bionomics and geographic spread of the organisms that carry and transmit the infectious agents. Huge gaps exist in the information related to these vectors, creating an essential need for campaigns to mobilise and share data. The publication of data papers is an effective tool for overcoming this challenge. These peer-reviewed articles provide scholarly credit for researchers whose vital work of assembling and publishing well-described, properly-formatted datasets often fails to receive appropriate recognition. To address this, GigaScience 's sister journal GigaByte partnered with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to publish a series of data papers, with support from the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Here we outline the initial results of this targeted approach to sharing data and describe its importance for controlling VBDs and improving public health

Geographical distribution of American cutaneous leishmaniasis and its phlebotomine vectors (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is a re-emerging disease in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is important to understand both the vector and disease distribution to help design control strategies. As an initial step in applying geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) tools to map disease-risk, the objectives of the present work were to: (i) produce a single database of species distributions of the sand fly vectors in the state of São Paulo, (ii) create combined distributional maps of both the incidence of ACL and its sand fly vectors, and (iii) thereby provide individual municipalities with a source of reference material for work carried out in their area.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A database containing 910 individual records of sand fly occurrence in the state of São Paulo, from 37 different sources, was compiled. These records date from between 1943 to 2009, and describe the presence of at least one of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vector species in 183/645 (28.4%) municipalities. For the remaining 462 (71.6%) municipalities, we were unable to locate records of any of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vector species (<it>Nyssomyia intermedia</it>, <it>N. neivai</it>, <it>N. whitmani</it>, <it>Pintomyia fischeri</it>, <it>P. pessoai </it>and <it>Migonemyia migonei</it>). The distribution of each of the six incriminated or suspected vector species of ACL in the state of São Paulo were individually mapped and overlaid on the incidence of ACL for the period 1993 to 1995 and 1998 to 2007. Overall, the maps reveal that the six sand fly vector species analyzed have unique and heterogeneous, although often overlapping, distributions. Several sand fly species - <it>Nyssomyia intermedia </it>and <it>N. neivai </it>- are highly localized, while the other sand fly species - <it>N. whitmani, M. migonei, P. fischeri </it>and <it>P. pessoai </it>- are much more broadly distributed. ACL has been reported in 160/183 (87.4%) of the municipalities with records for at least one of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vector species, while there are no records of any of these sand fly species in 318/478 (66.5%) municipalities with ACL.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The maps produced in this work provide basic data on the distribution of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vectors of ACL in the state of São Paulo, and highlight the complex and geographically heterogeneous pattern of ACL transmission in the region. Further studies are required to clarify the role of each of the six suspected sand fly vector species in different regions of the state of São Paulo, especially in the majority of municipalities where ACL is present but sand fly vectors have not yet been identified.</p