[Morphological abnormalities in the cibarium of Lutzomyia evansi (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) caught in Trujillo, Venezuela]. / Anomalías morfológicas en los dientes del cibario de Lutzomyia evansi (Diptera: Psychodidae) en el estado Trujillo, Venezuela.

INTRODUCTION: Lutzomyia evansi is a recognized vector of Leishmania infantum in Colombia and Venezuela. OBJECTIVE: To describe and illustrate the morphological abnormalities in Lu. evansi females captured in a rural focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Trujillo, Venezuela. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Phlebotomine sand flies were collected using CDC light traps, Shannon traps and aspiration in resting places. The identification was performed according to Young & Duncan (1994) and drawings were made using a microscope with camara lucida . RESULTS: Abnormalities in the cibarium of Lu. evansi were detected in 4 (0.12%) females of the 3,477 adults that were studied. CONCLUSION: Lutzomyia evansi can have uncommon morphological variants associated with an increase in the number of teeth in the cibarium and their arrangement, which may lead to errors in the taxonomic identification of anomalous specimens. The study of such deformities can serve to avoid taxonomic identification errors.

Zoonoses and climate variability.

Leishmaniasis in the Americas is transmitted by Lutzomyia spp., which have many animal reservoirs. Previous studies indicated potential changes in vectors of climate-related distribution, but impact outcomes need to be further studied. We report climatic and El Niño events during 1985-2002 that may have had an impact on leishmaniasis in 11 southern departments of Colombia: Amazonas, Caquetá, Cauca (Ca), Huila, Meta (Mt), Nariño, Putumayo (Py), Tolima, Valle (Va), Vaupes (Vp), and Vichada. Climatic data were obtained by satellite and epidemiologic data were obtained from the Health Ministry. NOAA climatic classification and SOI/ONI indexes were used as indicators of global climate variability. Yearly variation comparisons and median trend deviations were made for disease incidence and climatic variability. During this period there was considerable climatic variability, with a strong El Niño for 6 years and a strong La Niña for 8. During this period, 19,212 cases of leishmaniasis were registered, for a mean of 4756.83 cases/year. Disease in the whole region increased (mean of 4.98%) during the El Niño years in comparison to the La Niña years, but there were differences between departments with increases during El Niño (Mt 6.95%, Vp 4.84%), but the rest showed an increase during La Niña (1.61%-64.41%). Differences were significant in Va (P= 0.0092), Py (P= 0.0001), Ca (P= 0.0313), and for the whole region (P= 0.0023), but not in the rest of the departments. The importance of climate change is shown by shifts in insect and animal distributions. These data reflect the importance of climate on transmission of leishmaniasis and open further investigations related to forecasting and monitoring systems, where understanding the relationship between zoonoses and climate variability could help to improve the management of these emerging and reemerging diseases.

Impact of climate variability in the occurrence of leishmaniasis in northeastern Colombia.

Previous studies have shown that variation in the distribution of vectors associated to the transmission of Leishmania species may be related to climatic changes. However, the potential implications of these ecological changes in human health need to be further defined in various endemic populations where leishmaniasis carries a substantial burden of disease such as in Northeastern Colombia. Herein, we report the impact of El Niño Southern Oscillation climatic fluctuations during 1985-2002 in the occurrence of cases of leishmaniasis in two northeastern provinces of Colombia. During this period, we identified that during El Niño, cases of leishmaniasis increased, whereas during La Niña phases, leishmaniasis cases decreased. This preliminary data show how climatic changes influence the occurrence of leishmaniasis in northeastern Colombia and contributes to the growing body of evidence that shows that the incidence of vector-borne diseases is associated with annual changes in weather conditions.

Description and ontogenetic morphometrics of nymphs of Belminus herreri Lent & Wygodzinsky ( Hemiptera: Reduviidae, Triatominae )

Pela primeira vez todos estádios ninfais de uma espécie do gênero Belminus são descritos, baseados em espécimes da primeira geração obtida em laboratório a partir de adultos capturados em domicílios do Departamento de Cesar, Colômbia. A morfometria geométrica das cabeças sugere que as maiores mudanças no desenvolvimento pós-embrionário ocorrem entre o 1º e o 2º ínstares.

Especies de Lutzomyia (Diptera: Psychodidae) posibles vectores de leishmaniasis en la ciudad de Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia / Lutzomyia species (Diptera: Psychodidae) possible leishmaniasis vector in the city of Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia

Debido al registro, en los últimos cinco años, de ciento veinticinco casos urbanos de leishmaniasis cutánea en la ciudad de Bucaramanga, se desarrolló el presente estudio con el fin de determinar las especies del género Lutzomyia existentes en la ciudad y sus implicaciones en salud pública. La búsqueda de los flebotomíneos se hizo en ocho zonas de la ciudad en los meses de septiembre a diciembre de 1996, utilizando como técnicas de muestreo trampas de luz tipo CDC y aspiración directa en cebo humano protegido y en sitios de reposo. Los insectos fueron preservados en alcohol al 70 por ciento y aclarados con KOH y fenol. Se capturaron 212 especímenes pertenecientes a once especies del género Lutzomyia y una del género Brumptomyia. Entre las especies antropofílicas encontradas, L. ovallesi y L. gomezi se destacan por ser reconocidas como vectores de Leishmania braziliensis L. ovallesi fue la especie de mayor distribución en la ciudad, L. gomezi la más abundante en las capturas con cebo humano; las dos se encontraron en barrios donde se ha informado el mayor número de casos de la enfermedad. El hallazgo de estas especies en la ciudad sugiere la posibilidad de que los habitantes de Bucaramanga puedan infectarse en el área urbana y crea la necesidad de continuar estudios que contribuyan a interrumpir el ciclo de transmisión