[Additional evidence for the species composition of mosquitoes (Diptera, Psichodidae, Phlebotominae) in the visceral leishmaniasis foci of Uzbekistan].

The species composition of mosquitoes was studied in the foci of visceral leishmaniasis in the Navoiy and Samarkand Provinces of Uzbekistan. The human settlements where these observations were made were located at 1000-1200 m above sea level. Seven species: Phlebotomus sergenti, P. caucasicus, P. longiductus, P. papatasi, P. alexandri, Sergetomyia sumbarica, and S. grecovi were found. The predominant species was P. sergenti; P. longiductus was a vector for visceral leishmaniasis, which was present in all the collected samples. Bovine animal and small cattle yards were ascertained to be the hatching of mosquito eggs.

[The species composition and epidemiological significance of mosquitoes (Diptera, Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) in the foci of visceral leishmaniasis in the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan].

In 2008, mosquito observations were made in 4 populated areas of the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan (Fergana Valley), where visceral leishmaniasis cases had been registered. The mosquitoes were caught in Oltinkan, Gulistan, Chodak, and Chorkesar in July and in Oltinkan in September. A total of 7245 mosquitoes were caught in the living and utility premises during the observation period. The mosquito fauna of this focus was found to represent 10 species: P. papatasi, P. sergenti, P. alexandri, P. caucasicus, P. nuri, P. keshishiani, P. angustus, P. longiductus, S. grecovi, and S. sumbarica. It also contained P. papatasi, a vehicle for transmission of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, P. sergenti, an anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis vehicle, and P. longiductus, a visceral leishmaniasis one. The major site of hatching and habitat for mosquitoes were utility premises for large and small cattle. A polymerase chain reaction was used to determine mosquito infestation with L. infantum. A total of 38 female pools of 5 species: P. papatasi, P. sergenti, P. keshishiani, P. angustus, and P. longiductus were tested. Testing of female mosquitoes for L. infantum yielded a negative result.

[The epidemiological features of visceral leishmaniasis, revealed on examination of children by polymerase chain reaction, in the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan].

Patients with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) have been registered in the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan, over the past 23 years. A total of 95 patients were notified in 1987 to 2009. In 2007-2008, a mass survey using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) within the international INTAS project 05-100006-8043 was conducted in 5 population aggregates of the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan, where VL cases had been regularly registered in the last years. Bone marrow and venous and peripheral blood smears were used as a test material. A total of 234 samples, including 3 bone marrow biopsy specimens, 9 venous blood samples and 222 peripheral blood ones, were tested. All the samples were on the glass slides. Three groups were identified among the examinees. Group 1 consisted of 13 subjects who had been ill at different times. Group 2 comprised 27 children treated at hospital for various diagnoses. Group 3 (the largest one, n=190) included apparently healthy children. All the children of this group felt well and had no symptoms of any illnesses at the examination. In this group, 85 (44.7%) subjects were PCR-positive. Twenty-four (55.8%) of 43 children in the age group of 0-3 years were PCR-positive; the 4-7-year age group comprised 66 subjects and 33 (50%) of them were PCR-positive. Group over 7 years of age included 81 subjects; 45 (55.5%) were PCR-positive. The results of the mass survey with PCR, which covered the 5 population aggregates in the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan, suggest the epidemic activity of a synathropic focus of VL and make us look at many fixed notions of its epidemiology in new contexts.

[Human and canine visceral leishmaniasis in the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan: seroepidemiological and seroepizootological surveys].

In 2007 - 2008, four (Chodak, Oltinkan, Gulistan, and Chorkesar) of 9 population aggregates in the Papsky District, Namangan Region, Uzbekistan, where visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases had been registered in the last years were selected to make seroepidemiological and seroepizootological surveys within the international project funded by INTAS grant 05-100006-8043. The surveys of the populations were conducted visiting their homesteads. These additionally included children's and health care facilities where all children aged less than 14 years were examined. On examining the children, their peripheral blood (approximately 0.1 ml) was taken on filter paper for serological assays. Canine blood was sampled from the vein. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was carried out to detect antibodies to VL pathogens. A total of 521 children were examined for two years, by applying ELISA. Five hundred and fourteen blood samples from children younger than 14 years, 162 dogs, 4 foxes, and 1 cat were tested. Testing 514 children's blood samples for VL pathogen antigen ascertained that in the 4 population aggregates there was an average of 10% VL-seropositive children, including those who were ill with VL at the moment of the examination and had been ill. The highest number of VL-seropositive samples (14.9%) was found in the settlement of Chodak. VL pathogen antibodies were detected in 26 (61.9%) of 42 dogs with the clinical signs of VL. VL-positive tests were found in 26 (21.6%) of 120 apparently healthy dogs. The samples from 4 foxes and 1 cat were negative. Immunological findings indicated that 0-3-year-old children were a group that is most susceptible to VL in the study focus of this disease. The high proportion of dogs with VL may account for the rise in infant morbidity and suggests the epizootic strain in the focus of VL in the Papsky District.

Identification of the agent causing visceral leishmaniasis in Uzbeki and Tajiki foci by analysing parasite DNA extracted from patients' Giemsa-stained tissue preparations.

Our present study is the first attempt to characterize Leishmania parasites from foci in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan endemic for visceral leishmaniasis (VL). PCR-sequencing of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 and multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) were applied to DNA extracted from preparations of Giemsa-stained bone marrow aspirates from 13 cases of VL. L. infantum was shown to cause VL currently occurring in this area. MLMT applying 14 microsatellite markers, previously shown to be polymorphic for strains of the L. donovani complex, revealed that microsatellite profiles of parasites causing human VL in the Namangan and Jizzakh regions in Uzbekistan, and Penjikent region in Tajikistan, basically coincide with those of strains of L. infantum MON-1. Furthermore, these parasites were assigned to a distinct cluster genetically clearly separated from the populations of L. infantum MON-1 from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The existence of a genetically homogeneous but distinct group of L. infantum MON-1 indicates that the parasites circulating in the Uzbeki and Tajiki foci studied have been restricted there for a long time rather than having been recently introduced from elsewhere by human or animal reservoir migration.