Studies of the Sand Fly Vector

项目2“沙蝇媒介研究”将挑战一些教条的指导电流矢量， 内脏利什曼病（VL）的疾病控制工作。 白蛉，白蛉媒介杜氏利什曼原虫，被认为是一个贫穷的飞行， 主要在室内繁殖和休息，并在午夜前后叮咬;病媒控制工作计划基于 关于白蛉数量季节性的假设。本研究的第一个目的是提供一个 准确描述病媒丰度的季节性变化、取食偏好、叮咬时间和 估计了病媒感染L. donovani。能够瞄准 不仅是成年沙蝇，而且是早期阶段，这项研究还包括一个旨在 确定银足拟步行虫的繁殖地。 覆盖室内残留杀虫剂喷洒（IRS），是银足拟步行虫的主要防治方法， 印度次大陆，被证明是严重不足的早期阶段的TMRC研究。在这 将通过定性和定量研究调查IRS覆盖率低的项目原因。在 此外，还将开发一种白蛉唾液抗体测试，该测试有望提供一种直接测量 在个人层面上的病媒暴露。这种新方法可用于监测 病媒控制工作，避免了昂贵和繁琐的病媒丰度研究的需要。 这个项目将挑战的另一个假设是， 与后卡拉阿扎皮肤利什曼病（PKDL）感染白蛉媒介。VL的数量 在目前的TMRC研究领域的病例是如此之低，从数学上看，它们似乎不太可能持续下去。 然而，无症状感染者的人数要高得多。该项目将 通过进行靶向异种诊断，研究无症状感染者对白蛉的感染性 实验 相关性（参见说明）： 虽然病媒控制是在VL控制中证明有效的少数战略之一，但目前的努力是 没有产生好的结果。这个项目将产生数据，可用于重新调整当前矢量 控制计划以及监控其有效性的工具。如果无症状感染者可以 传播VL，需要修改当前VL控制策略。这个项目将寻找证据。

Project 2 "Studies of the sand fly vector" will challenge some of the dogma's guiding current vector and diseases control efforts for Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL). Phlebotomus argentipes, the sand fly vector of Leishmania donovani, is assumed to be a poor flyer that breeds and rests mainly indoor and bites around midnight; vector control efforts are planned based on assumptions about the seasonality of sand fly abundance. The first aim of this study is to provide an accurate description of seasonal variation in vector abundance, feeding preferences, biting times and an estimate ofthe seasonal variation in the proportion of vectors infected with L. donovani. To be able to target not just the adult sand flies but also the earlier stages, the study also includes a component aimed at identifying breeding sites of P. argentipes. Coverage with indoor residual insecticide spraying (IRS), the main P. argentipes control method on the Indian subcontinent, was shown to be grossly inadequate in an eartier phase of the TMRC study. In this project reasons for low IRS coverage will be investigated through qualitative and quantitative research. In addition a sand fly saliva antibody test will be developed, this test is expected to provide a direct measure of vector exposure at the level of the individual. This new method can be used to monitor the effectiveness of vector control efforts, obviating the need of costly and cumbersome vector abundance studies. Another assumption this project will challenge is the assumption that only symptomatic patients and patients with post Kala Azar dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) are infectious to the sand fly vector. The number of VL cases in the current TMRC study area is so low that mathematically it seems unlikely they can sustain transmission; the number of asymptomatically infected persons however is much higher. The project will study the infectivity of asymptomatically infected persons to sand flies by conducting targeted xenodiagnosis experiments. RELEVANCE (See instructions): Though vector control is among the few strategies with proven effectiveness in VL control, current efforts are not yielding good results. This project will generate data that can be used to readjust the current vector control schemes as well as a tool to monitor their effectiveness. If asymptomatically infected persons can transmit VL, current VL control strategies need to be revised. This project will search for evidence.