4,5 In Iran, forty-five phlebotomine sand flies have been morphologically identified so far.6 Cutaneous leishmaniasis

(CL) is endemic in more than 70 countries mainly situated in the tropical and subtropical regions.3 More than 90% of CL cases have been reported from Afghanistan, Brazil, Sudan, Iran, Peru, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.3,4 In Iran, CL is endemic in 15 out of the 31 provinces. CL appears in zoonotic and anthroponotic forms, which are caused by Leishmania major and L. tropica, transmitted mainly by Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli, 1784) and P. sergenti (Parrot, 1917), Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical respectively.7 The endemic foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) are mainly located in three parts of the country, i.e. the central and north-east, west and south-west, and south-east regions.8 In all these regions, P. papatasi has been reported Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical as the proven and primary vector.9,10 Moreover, some other phlebotomine sand flies have been

naturally found infected with L. major and considered as probable vectors. These species are P. (Paraphlebotomus) mongolensis, P. (Phlebotomus) salehi, P. (Paraphlebotomus) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical caucasicus, P. (Synphlebotomus) ansarii, and P. (Paraphlebotomus) alexandri.11-14 Gerbil rodents (Muridae: Gerbillinae) are the reservoir hosts of ZCL in Iran. The main reservoir hosts are Rhombomys opimus, selleck chemical Tofacitinib Tatera indica, and Meriones hurrianae in the endemic foci of the three above-mentioned regions, respectively.15,16 Recently, the Baluchistan gerbil, Gerbillus nanus, has also been naturally found to be infected with Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical L. major and has been reported as a probable reservoir host in a newly-emerged endemic focus in the south-east parts of Iran.17 Nowadays, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays are routinely used to detect Leishmania species in patients, vectors, and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical reservoir hosts. Nevertheless, the high similarity between the different species of the parasite renders their morphological identification difficult.8 To bypass this difficulty, various sources of Leishmania DNA, including ribosomal DNA (ssu rRNA), repetitive sequences, kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1), have been used for molecular detection.13,18,19 Outbreaks

of ZCL impose a particularly serious burden of morbidity on people in the rural areas of Iran. The incidence of clinical ZCL cases in the Beiza District, Fars Province, southern Iran, was reported as Dacomitinib 16.23 and 12.65/1000 in 2009 and 2010, respectively (Unpublished data, Fars Province Health Center). The present study was aimed to determine the sand fly fauna and detect the potential vectors of L. major using molecular methods in this new rural focus of ZCL in the Fars Province, south of Iran. Methods and Materials Study Area The study was carried out in the Beiza District, selleck chem JQ1 Sepidan Township, Fars Province, south of Iran in 2010 (figure 1). This district is situated in a hilly area, south of the Zagross chain of mountains (52°, 10’ E, 29°, 50’ N) with an altitude of 1500-2000 m.