Contribution to the Knowledge of the Phlebotomine Sand Flies Fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) of Timóteo Municipality, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Contribuição para o Conhecimento da Fauna de Flebotomíneos (Diptera: Psychodidae), do Município de Timóteo, MG

PUBLIC HEALTH

Contribution to the Knowledge of the Phlebotomine Sand Flies Fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) of Timóteo Municipality, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Contribuição para o Conhecimento da Fauna de Flebotomíneos (Diptera: Psychodidae), do Município de Timóteo, MG

Cristian F Souza^I; Magno A Z Borges^II; Andrey J Andrade^III

^IDepto. de Saúde Pública e Meio Ambiente, Centro Universitário do Leste de Minas Gerais, Unileste, Rua Café Filho 584, 35182-096, Timóteo, MG; [e-mail]

^IILab. de Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Campus Universitário Prof. Darcy Ribeiro, Univ. Estadual de Montes Claros, Unimontes, C. postal 126, 39401089, Vila Mauricéia, Montes Claros, MG; [e-mail]

^IIILab. de Ecologia Química de Insetos Vetores, Depto. de Parasitologia, Univ. Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Presidente Antônio Carlos 6627, 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG; [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

An investigation of the phlebotomine sandfloy fauna in the municipality of Timóteo, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, was undertaken with New Jersey traps placed in seven neighborhoods from December 2005 to January 2006. A total of 2,289 phlebotomine sandfloy specimens were recorded. Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho) (48.1%), Nyssomyia intermedia (Lutz & Neiva) (36.8%) and Micropygomyia quinquefer (Dyar) (7.1%) were the most abundant species sampled. Some sandfloy species that play a role in the transmission of Leishmania Ross in the State of Minas Gerais were recorded and their importance to public health is highlighted. Pintomyia bianchigalatiae (Andrade Filho, Aguiar, Dias & Falcão), Micropygomyia capixaba (Dias, Falcão, Silva & Martins), Micropygomyia schreiberi (Martins, Falcão & Silva) and Psathyromyia pascalei (Coutinho & Barretto) are recorded for the first time in the municipality of Timóteo, and Pressatia choti (Floch & Abonnenc) is recorded for the first time in the State of Minas Gerais.

Key words: Sandfloy, Leishmaniasis, Phlebotominae, Pressatia choti, public health

RESUMO

Foi realizada uma investigação sobre a fauna de flebotomíneos no município de Timóteo, MG, com a instalação de armadilhas do tipo New Jersey, em sete bairros, entre dezembro de 2005 e janeiro de 2006. O total de 2.289 espécimes de flebotomíneos foi registrado. Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho) (48,1%), Nyssomyia intermedia (Lutz & Neiva) (36,8%) e Micropygomyia quinquefer (Dyar) (7,1%) foram as espécies mais abundantes. Algumas espécies de flo ebotomíneos incriminadas como transmissoras de Leishmania em Minas Gerais foram registradas e a importância destas para saúde pública é destacada. Neste trabalho faz-se o primeiro registro de Pintomyia bianchigalatiae (Andrade Filho, Aguiar, Dias & Falcão), Micropygomyia capixaba (Dias, Falcão, Silva & Martins), Micropygomyia schreiberi (Martins, Falcão & Silva) e Psathyromyia pascalei (Coutinho & Barretto) para Timóteo. Pressatia choti (Floch & Abonnenc) é registrada pela primeira vez para Minas Gerais.

Palavras-chave: Flebotomíneo, leishmaniose, saúde pública, Phlebotominae, Pressatia choti

The identification of sandfloy species and their geographical distribution are of great importance due to the facts that: 1) they vector a disease and 2) the dissemination of the disease has increased significantly over the past few decades. The constant alterations in the natural environment, caused mainly by the growing urbanization, have created new endemic sites surrounded by non-forested regions (Carvalho et al 2006).

Research into sandfloies is normally concerned with the probable location of infection or the identification of the vectors involved. So far, some 229 phlebotomine species have been recorded in Brazil, 31% of them having been reported in the State of Minas Gerais (Aguiar & Medeiros 2003). Studies in Southeastern Brazil demonstrated that the transmission of Leishmania is highly dependent on certain sandfloy species, particularly Nyssomyia intermedia (Lutz & Neiva) and Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho) (Mayrink et al 1979, Peterson & Shaw 2003).

Andrade Filho et al (1997) undertook a study of the local phlebotomine fauna in the municipality of Timóteo, Minas Gerais State. No other entomological survey of the sandfloy species of that municipality has since been carried out, the records being restricted to the species reported by these authors.The municipality of Timóteo is an American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) endemic area, although no visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has ever been reported, but a large number of ACL cases (88) were registered by the Secretaria Municipal de Saúde of Timóteo from 2002 to 2007 (SMS 2007).

The aim of this study is to provide new information on the sandfloy fauna of Timóteo, MG.

Material and Methods

This study was undertaken in the municipality of Timóteo (19º30`36``S - 42º38`16``W), located in Vale do Aço region, with 76,092 inhabitants (IBGE, 2007), of which 99.8% live in the urban area. The municipality is located in the eastern part of Minas Gerais State, and has an area of 145,159 km². The mean annual temperature is 24ºC, with a tropical, humid climate, and typical Atlantic forest vegetation which constitutes part of one of the biggest conservation areas of Brazil, the Parque Estadual do Rio Doce. Timóteo is bordered by the municipalities of Coronel Fabriciano, Ipatinga, Marliéria, Antônio Dias and Jaguaraçú (Fig 1).

The phlebotomines were collected using New Jersey light traps during 30 successive nights from December 2005 to January 2006. The traps were set from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. in peridomiciliary areas in seven neighborhoods of the municipality: Alvorada, Cachoeira do Vale, Funcionários, Macuco, Primavera, Recanto Verde and São José (Fig 1). All these neighborhoods are urban and in the places where traps were installed no animal shelter was observed. The specimens collected were fixed in 70% ethanol, separated by sex for each neighborhood and mounted in Berlese solution on microscope slides. The classification of the phlebotomines follows that proposed by Galati (2003).

Samples were analyzed by area, sex and species using the non-parametric tests of Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis. The BioEstat statistics program 4.0 (AnalystSoft, Version, 2005) was used for the analyses (Ayres et al 2004).

Results and Discussion

The total of 2,289 phlebotomine sandflies of the subtribes Brumptomyiina, Lutzomyiina, Sergentomyiina and Psychodopygina were recorded (Table 1). Only eight specimens (0.35%) were not identified to the species level and some were not identified even to the generic level and were thus excluded from the analyses.

Nineteen species of sandfloy were collected in Timóteo (Table 1). The higher densities were observed for N. whitmani (48.1%), N. intermedia (36.8%) and Micropygomyia quinquefer (Dyar) (7.1%), respectively, as previously recorded by Andrade Filho et al (1997). There has been no change in the abundance of the main species recorded in the municipality over these 10 years. No significant difference between the numbers of N. whitmani and N. intermedia (Kruskal-Wallis, P > 0.05) captured was observed although there is a difference between N. whitmani and M. quinquefer (Kruskal-Wallis, P > 0.05) (Fig 2).

Some sandfloies responsible for the transmission of Leishmania species in Brazil, e.g. N. intermedia, N. neivai (Pinto), Migonemyia migonei (França), N. whitmani, Pintomyia fischeri (Pinto), P. pessoai (Coutinho & Barretto), Psychodopygus ayrozai (Barretto & Coutinho) and Bichromomyia floaviscutellata (Mangabeira), have been recorded in the State of Minas Gerais (Aguiar & Medeiros 2003, Andrade Filho et al 2007, Loiola et al 2007). Although some other species have been incriminated as suspect vectors of visceral leishmaniasis (Santos et. al 1998), only Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva) was recorded in Minas Gerais (Souza et al 2004, Monteiro et al 2005, Resende et al 2006). Nyssomyia whitmani and N. intermedia are considered to be the main vectors of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis (Lainson 1989), and both species are widespread (Peterson & Shaw 2003, Andrade Filho et al 2007). However, N. intermedia is capable of adapting readily to anthropic environments (Aguiar et al 1987). Both sandfloy species were found sympatrically in Timóteo and could account for the transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the urban area, as observed in other regions (Brazil et al 2006).

Some species (e.g. oswaldoi group) feed on reptiles (Young & Duncan 1994). Among them, M. quinquefer is found in tree trunks and roots, on rocks and in domestic animal shelters (e.g. chicken-run, pigsty) (Aguiar & Medeiros 2003). There is no record of any etiologic agent carried by M. quinquefer that may cause animal or human disease (Deane & Deane 1957, Galati et al 1996, Andrade Filho et al 1998).

The highest number and greatest diversity of sandflo ies were found in the Primavera neighborhood (Table 1). The trap was set 100 meters from a forested rivulet, where the soil is organically rich. The sandfloy species might be present in this forested area and migrate to this neighborhood, thus being captured in the traps. However, in recent years, only four cases of ACL have been notified in this neighborhood (SMS 2007).

The captures of the phlebotomines near the Parque Estadual do Rio Doce were made in the Recanto Verde and Macuco neighborhoods. Curiously, these neighborhoods show a great abundance of sandfloy species, and a higher number of males than females (Table 1). The higher number of sandfloies captured in Macuco was probably due to the proximity of other residences where henhouses and dogs were observed. In Recanto Verde three cases of ACL were notifi ed in 2003 and in Macuco 14 cases of the disease were recorded between 2002 and 2007 (SMS 2007).

There were no signifi cant differences among the captures made in the seven neighborhoods (Kruskal-Wallis, P > 0.05) (Fig 3), nor was there any predominance of either gender (Mann-Whitney, P > 0.05) (Table 1).

Andrade Filho et al (1997), using the classifi cations proposed by Young & Duncan (1994) and Forattini (1973), recorded 18 sandfly species of Lutzomyia and two of Brumptomyia in Timóteo, over a period of eight months.Recently, Souza & Borges (2008) published the record of L. longipalpis in the municipality, but no human VL was notified (SMS 2007). However, the municipality is near other areas, such as Belo Horizonte, where VL is endemic (Margonari et al 2006). Seeing that the presence of the vector L. longipalpis has been confirmed near endemic areas of visceral leishmaniasis, more attention should be given to entomological surveillance.

The present study constitutes the first record of P. bianchiagalatiae (Andrade Filho, Aguiar, Dias & Falcão), M. capixaba (Dias, Falcão, Silva & Martins), M. schreiberi (Martins, Falcão & Silva) and Psathyromyia pascalei (Coutinho & Barretto) in Timóteo (Table 1). This is also the first record of Pressatia choti (Floch & Abonnenc) in the State of Minas Gerais (Martins et al 1978, Aguiar & Medeiros 2003, Galati 2003), although probably the single female of Pressatia collected by Andrade Filho et al (1997) did in fact belong to this species.

The total number of species recorded in Timóteo increases from 18 (Andrade Filho et al 1997) to 25, due to this present report. These data provide to Secretaria Municipal de Saúde with a new map of the distribution of the sandflo y species which may constitute a public health threat.

Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to José D Andrade Filho (CPqRR/ Fiocruz) for the taxonomic confi rmation of some of the species and for his suggestions; to Dr Reginaldo P Brazil (IOC/ Fiocruz) and Dr Humberto F Mendes (De naturhistoriske samlinger - UiB, Bergen, Norway) for the English revision; to the Secretaria Municipal de Saúde of Timóteo (SMS) for information on the cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis and to Carlos A dos Santos (SMS) for collaboration in fi eld work. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewer of the manuscript. AJA was supported by a PhD fellowship from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científi co e Tecnológico (CNPq).

Received 20/II/08. Accepted 27/I/09.

Edited by Eunice Galati - FSP/USP

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  26 May 2009
• Date of issue
  Apr 2009

History

• Received
  20 Feb 2008
• Accepted
  27 Jan 2009