Real-time PCR to assess the Leishmania load in Lutzomyia longipalpis sand flies: Screening of target genes and assessment of quantitative methods

► Real-time PCR can detect lower parasitic loads and quantify Leishmania in the vector. ► We mixed various pools size of male sand flies with various amounts of Leishmania chagasi. ► Primers targeting genes encoding the polymerase α, 18S RNA were employed and kDNA. ► Primers targeting kDNA demonstrated the greatest sensitivity and accurate estimates. ► No interference from the pool size of sand flies was detected.