Laboratory transmission of Leishmania infantum to Rattus rattus by the bite of experimentally infected Phlebotomus perniciosus.

The role of the sandfly species Phlebotomus perniciosus Parrot in laboratory transmission of Leishmania infantum was investigated. One of the wild reservoirs of the disease, the black rat (Rattus rattus), was used as vertebrate host. The parasite was transmitted by the bite of experimentally infected P. perniciosus to the black rat which, six months later, was infective to the same sandfly species. These experimental data confirm the role of P. perniciosus in the transmission of L. infantum, as suggested by earlier studies based on epidemiological data.