ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2020
Feeding behavior and activity of Phlebotomus pedifer and potential reservoir hosts of Leishmania aethiopica in southwestern Ethiopia.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Tigray, Ethiopia: Clinical patterns, environmental drivers and public health implications.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Environmental Factors Influencing Cutaneous Leishmaniasis and Importance of a Newly Designed Sand Fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) Sticky Traps.Journal of tropical medicine · 2026Article
- Decentralizing care for cutaneous leishmaniasis and other skin diseases to primary health facilities in Southern Ethiopia: What are the needs?BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Phlebotomine sand fly vector distribution, seasonality, blood meal sources, and infection rates in cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic areas of Northeast Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Leishmaniasis: Vector-Host-Pathogen Interactions in Health and Disease.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Article
- Abundance and Distribution ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- Global Dilemma and Needs Assessment Toward Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Controlling Leishmaniasis.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Review
- Ecology and Infection Status of Sand Flies in Rural and Urban Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Endemic Areas in Northwest Ethiopia.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- Prevalence and risk factors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a newly identified endemic site in South-Ethiopia.PloS one · 2024Article
- The ongoing risk of Leishmania donovani transmission in eastern Nepal: an entomological investigation during the elimination era.Parasites & vectors · 2023Article
- Community-based treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis using cryotherapy and miltefosine in Southwest Ethiopia: the way forward?Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Molecular Identification of Trypanosome Diversity in Domestic Animals Reveals the Presence ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- An integrative approach to identify sand fly vectors of leishmaniasis in Ethiopia by morphological and molecular techniques.Parasites & vectors · 2020Article
- High-resolution habitat suitability model for Phlebotomus pedifer, the vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in southwestern Ethiopia.Parasites & vectors · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a major public health concern in Ethiopia. However, knowledge about the complex zoonotic transmission cycle is limited, hampering implementation of control strategies. We explored the feeding behavior and activity of the vector (Phlebotomus pedifer) and studied the role of livestock in CL transmission in southwestern Ethiopia.
methodsBlood meal origins of engorged sand flies were determined by sequencing host DNA. A host choice experiment was performed to assess the feeding preference of P. pedifer when humans and hyraxes are equally accessible. Ear and nose biopsies from livestock were screened for the presence of Leishmania parasites. Sand flies were captured indoor and outdoor with human landing catches and CDC light traps to determine at which time and where P. pedifer is mostly active. PRINCIPAL
findingsA total of 180 P. pedifer sand flies were found to bite hosts of 12 genera. Humans were the predominant blood meal source indoors (65.9%, p < 0.001), while no significant differences were determined outdoors and in caves. In caves, hyraxes were represented in blood meals equally as humans (45.5% and 42.4%, respectively), but the host choice experiment revealed that sand flies have a significant preference for feeding on hyraxes (p = 0.009). Only a single goat nose biopsy from 412 animal samples was found with Leishmania RNA. We found that P. pedifer is predominantly endophagic (p = 0.003), but occurs both indoors and outdoors. A substantial number of sand flies was active in the early evening, which increased over time reaching its maximum around midnight.
conclusionIn contrast to earlier suggestions of exclusive zoonotic Leishmania transmission, we propose that there is also human-to-human transmission of CL in southwestern Ethiopia. Livestock does not play a role in CL transmission and combined indoor and outdoor vector control measures at night are required for efficient vector control.
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