Samy, Abdallah M.Doha, Said AbdallahKenawy, Mohamed A.2014-09-172014-09-172014-05-07Abdallah Mohammed Samy, Said Abdallah Doha, Mohamed Amin Kenawy. "Ecology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sinai: linking parasites, vectors and hosts." Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2014 June; 109(3): 299–306. Published online 2014 May 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0074-0276130426https://hdl.handle.net/1808/15013To Dr Awni F Sallem, for his kind help during the field trips, and to Townsend Peterson, University of Kansas, for his comments that improved the paperCutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected clinical form of public health importance that is quite prevalent in the northern and eastern parts of Egypt. A comprehensive study over seven years (January 2005-December 2011) was conducted to track CL transmission with respect to both sandfly vectors and animal reservoirs. The study identified six sandfly species collected from different districts in North Sinai: Phlebotomus papatasi, Phlebotomus kazeruni, Phlebotomus sergenti, Phlebotomus alexandri, Sergentomyia antennata and Sergentomyia clydei. Leishmania (-)-like flagellates were identified in 15 P. papatasi individuals (0.5% of 3,008 dissected females). Rodent populations were sampled in the same districts where sandflies were collected and eight species were identified: Rattus norvegicus (n = 39), Rattus rattus frugivorous (n = 13), Rattus rattus alexandrinus (n = 4), Gerbillus pyramidum floweri (n = 38), Gerbillus andersoni (n = 28), Mus musculus (n = 5), Meriones sacramenti (n = 22) and Meriones crassus (n = 10). Thirty-two rodents were found to be positive for Leishmania infection (20.12% of 159 examined rodents). Only Leishmania major was isolated and identified in 100% of the parasite samples. The diversity of both the vector and rodent populations was examined using diversity indices and clustering approaches.sandflyPhlebotomusLeishmaniasisLeishmania MajorSinaiEgyptArticle10.1590/0074-0276130426https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3978-1134openAccess