Epidemiologic study and molecular detection of Leishmania and sand fly species responsible of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Foum Jamâa (Azilal, Atlas of Morocco)

•Detection and identification of Leishmania species by ITS1 PCR-RFLP in 119 patients.•Prevalence of sand fly species collected during one year in Foum Jamâa.•Leishmania tropica is the etiological agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Foum Jamâa.•Six species identified among 1152 sand flies, Phlebotomus sergenti represented 57%.

The region of Foum Jamâa (province of Azilal) has become endemic for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) since 2006. The objective of this study was to investigate molecular identification of the etiological agent of CL in this region; we also carried out an entomological survey of Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in this focus to study the sand fly fauna, species composition, and the monthly prevalence of sand flies during 1 year. In the period between 2009 and 2010, skin scrapings spotted on glass slides were collected from 119 patients, aged from 9 months to 70 years old, who came from 43 localities distributed in 3 sectors in Foum Jamâa (FJ). The ITS1 PCR-RFLP was used to identify the Leishmania parasite responsible for the recent cases of CL in FJ. Our results revealed that the disease is caused by L. tropica. No significant association was observed between gender and the rate of CL in presenting patients, while the highest rate of positive lesions was found in the age group of 9 years old or under (86.67%). In this study, we found also that L. tropica infection mostly caused single lesions (67.90%) that were located in the face (96.30%). Morphological identification was performed on a total of 1152 sand flies (23% females and 77% males) collected by sticky paper traps. 57% of the total collected flies were identified as Phlebotomus (Paraphlebotomus) sergenti (Parrot).

Graphical abstractIn an emerging focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis, Leishmania tropica was identified, by ITS1-PCR-RFLP in 81 patients. Phlebotomus sergenti represented 57% of total sand flies collected during 1 year.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide