Socio-environmental factors and sandfly prevalence in Delft Island, Sri Lanka: implications for leishmaniasis vector control

Abstract

Sri Lanka was free of any form of leishmaniasis until recently. The first autochthonous case of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) was only detected in 19921. By the year 2002, 65 cases, mainly from northern dry zone, were reported2. Leishmania donovani zymodeme MON-37 was identified to be responsible for CL in Sri Lanka3, though L. donovani is more typically associated with visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In neighbouring India anthroponotic CL (ACL) is mainly caused by L. tropica and is vectored by Phlebotomus sergenti and P. papatasi4. In Sri Lanka the presence of P. argentipes, the well known vector of VL caused by L. donovani in the Indian subcontinent, has been reported for many years5–7. However, the presence of P. sergenti and P. papatasi has not been reported so far from Sri Lanka.