Abstract

Objective: To identify the vector(s), the parasite and the species composition of sand flies in the district during May-October 2012. Methods: For reaching our objectives we used polymerase chain reaction of kDNA, ITS1-rDNA, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results: Two species of Phlebotomus sergenti and Phlebotomus tobbi were the most prevalent among 8 species identified comprising 51.1% and 32.9% respectively. Among the 160 specimens of female sand flies tested by polymerase chain reaction of kDNA, ITS1-rDNA, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphisms, only 1 out of 80 Phlebotomus tobbi (1.25%) were positive to Leishmania infantum parasites. Conclusions: Our finding showed that Phlebotomus tobbi may play as a vector to circulate the parasite of Leishmania infantum among reservoir(s) and human.

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