Sand flyROD DILLONGiving sand flies probiotics can reduce their capacity for carrying Leishmania—the sand fly-borne parasite that causes leishmaniasis in humans—according to a study published today (July 23) in Parasites & Vectors. But the research also suggests that flies already infected with Leishmania are protected against infections with other microbes. If true, then using bacterial infection as a way to cull sand flies and reduce the incidence of leishmaniasis could actually backfire.
“[The researchers] show that if they feed sand flies with certain bacteria that are natural components of the sand fly microbiota, the sand fly becomes more resistant to the Leishmania parasite,” said George Dimopoulos, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, who was not involved in the work. “That’s interesting and that could have some translational potential too because one could develop a microbe-based control strategy to block Leishmania transmission in the field,” he said.
Around 12 million people worldwide are currently infected with Leishmania and approximately 50,000 of those will die each year from their infections, estimated Rod Dillon, an insect microbiologist at Lancaster University in the U.K. who led the new ...
