Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Centro de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Tropical (CIMPAT), Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
Grupo de Investigación en Biología Matemática y Computacional (BIOMAC), Departamento de Ingeniería Biomedica, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 24;11(1):6789. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85763-9.
The Leishmaniases are a group of neglected tropical diseases caused by different species of the protozoan parasite Leishmania, transmitted to its mammalian hosts by the bites of several species of female Phlebotominae sand flies. Many factors have contributed to shifts in the disease distribution and eco epidemiological outcomes, resulting in the emergence of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis outbreaks and the incrimination of vectors in unreported regions. New research development is vital for establishing the new paradigms of the present transmission cycles, hoping to facilitate new control strategies to reduce parasite transmission. Hereafter, this work aims to model and infer the current transmission cycles of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Colombia defined by vector and mammal species distributed and interacting in the different regions and validate them by performing sand fly and mammal collections. Vector-host co-occurrences were computed considering five ecoregions of the Colombian territory defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and downloaded from The Nature Conservancy TNC Maps website. Four validation sites were selected based on Cutaneous Leishmaniasis prevalence reports. Sand flies and mammals captured in the field were processed, and species were defined using conventional taxonomic guidelines. Detection of infection by Leishmania was performed to identify transmission cycles in the selected areas. This study uses predictive models based on available information from international gazetteers and fieldwork to confirm sand fly and mammalian species' sustaining Leishmania transmission cycles. Our results show an uneven distribution of mammal samples in Colombia, possibly due to sampling bias, since only two departments contributed 50% of the available samples. Bats were the vertebrates with the highest score values, suggesting substantial spatial overlap with sand flies than the rest of the vertebrates evaluated. Fieldwork allowed identifying three circulating Leishmania species, isolated from three sand fly species. In the Montane Forest ecosystem, one small marsupial, Gracilinanus marica, was found infected with Leishmania panamensis, constituting the first record of this species infected with Leishmania. In the same locality, an infected sand fly, Pintomyia pia, was found. The overall results could support the understanding of the current transmission cycles of Leishmaniasis in Colombia.
利什曼病是一组被忽视的热带病，由原生动物寄生虫利什曼原虫的不同物种引起，通过几种雌性白蛉科沙蝇叮咬传播给其哺乳动物宿主。许多因素导致疾病分布和生态流行病学结果发生变化，导致皮肤利什曼病爆发，并在未报告地区发现传播媒介的责任。新的研究进展对于建立当前传播周期的新范式至关重要，希望有助于制定新的控制策略来减少寄生虫传播。在此基础上，本研究旨在对哥伦比亚目前由分布和相互作用于不同地区的媒介和哺乳动物物种定义的皮肤利什曼病传播周期进行建模和推断，并通过进行沙蝇和哺乳动物采集来验证这些模型。根据世界自然基金会（WWF）定义的哥伦比亚五个生态区和从大自然保护协会 TNC Maps 网站下载的数据，计算了媒介-宿主共存。根据皮肤利什曼病流行率报告，选择了四个验证地点。在现场捕获的沙蝇和哺乳动物进行处理，并使用常规分类学指南定义了物种。为了确定所选地区的传播周期，进行了利什曼原虫感染检测。本研究使用基于国际地名录和实地工作的现有信息的预测模型，来确认沙蝇和哺乳动物物种维持利什曼病传播周期。我们的研究结果表明，哥伦比亚的哺乳动物样本分布不均，这可能是由于采样偏差造成的，因为只有两个省提供了 50%的可用样本。蝙蝠是得分最高的脊椎动物，表明与评估的其他脊椎动物相比，与沙蝇有很大的空间重叠。实地工作确定了三种循环利什曼原虫，从三种沙蝇中分离出来。在山地森林生态系统中，发现一种小型有袋动物 Gracilinanus marica 感染了利什曼原虫 panamensis，这是该物种感染利什曼原虫的首例记录。在同一地点还发现了感染的沙蝇 Pintomyia pia。总体结果可能有助于理解哥伦比亚目前的利什曼病传播周期。
