Estudo da transmissão da leishmaniose tegumentar americana no Distrito Federal Study on the transmission of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Federal District

The objectives of this study were to characterize cutaneous leishmaniasis in patients from the Federal District, investigate subclinical infection in people living in the same localities as patients and identify the species of Phlebotomus and Leishmania. Patients attended at the University Hospital of Brasilia between August 2006 and June 2007 were selected. Relatives and neighbors of the patients underwent the Montenegro intradermal test and indirect immunofluorescence. Phlebotomines were caught at the localities where the patients came from and their species were identified. The species of Leishmania in the patients were also identified. Ten autochthonous cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis were recorded. The intradermal test was done on 32 local residents and 71.8% were positive. Immunofluorescence was performed on 37 individuals and all of them were negative. Lutzomyia whitmani was caught, including in domestic/peridomestic areas, along with Lutzomyia flaviscutellata . The percentage of positive Montenegro intradermal tests suggests that the local residents had subclinical infection. Capture of the vector Lutzomyia whitmani in domestic/peridomestic areas suggests that domestic/peridomestic transmission was occurring.