Insecticide resistance in phlebotomine sandflies in Southeast Asia with emphasis on the Indian subcontinent

Background:Visceral leishmaniasis,commonly known as kala-azar in India,is a global public health problem.In Southeast Asia,Bangladesh,Bhutan,India,Nepal,Sri Lanka and Thailand are endemic for visceral leishmaniasis.The role of sandflies as the vector of kala-azar was first confirmed in 1942 in India.Insecticide resistance in Phlebotomus argentipes Annandale and Brunetti,the vector of kala-azar in the Indian subcontinent,was first reported in 1987 in Bihar,India.This article provides a scoping review of the studies undertaken from 1959 to 2015 on insecticide resistance in P.argentipes and P.papatasi(Scopoli),the vectors of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis respectively,in Southeast Asia,mainly in Bangladesh,India,Nepal and Sri Lanka.Results:Studies undertaken in areas of Bihar and West Bengal in India where kala-azar is endemic have reported resistance of P.argentipes to DDT,while in non-endemic areas it has been reported to be susceptible.In areas of Nepal bordering India,there are indications of resistance to DDT;biochemical resistance has been reported in Sri Lanka.No laboratory studies have been undertaken in Bangladesh;however,the sandfly vector is reported to be still susceptible to pyrethroids in all kala-azar endemic areas in the aforementioned countries.Conclusions:Studies are needed to determine the resistance of sandfly vectors to all available classes of potential insecticides in kala-azar endemic areas.There is a need to assess the impact of indoor residual spraying with DDT and pyrethroids on the incidence of kala-azar in India where 54 districts remain endemic for the disease,strengthen entomological surveillance capacity,and develop and implement an insecticide management plan.Alpha-cypermethrin indoor residual spraying has been introduced in 33 kala-azar endemic districts in Bihar State of India in a pilot trial;the outcomes should be used to inform decisions on expanding coverage with alpha-cypermethrin in all remaining endemic districts to achieve the revised goal of elimination of visceral leishmaniasis by 2020.

NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE EFFECT OF INDIAN SUBCONTINENT VEGETATION COVER ON SUMMER MONSOON

In the present paper,a global two-dimensional climate model developed by Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS) with inclusion of a simple parameterization of land surface processes developed recently by Zhang and Li is used to investigate the effect of vegetation cover of the Indian subcontinent on summer monsoon circulation and its rainfall. First of all,we carried out a control experiment in which the distribution of vegetation species was based on obser- vations.Then,with removal of the vegetation cover on the subcontinent,a sensitivity experiment was performed. For both of the experiments,the integrations were made from the beginning of April to the end of July.The results show that,after the vegetation was removed from the subcontinent,the monthly mean updraft and the monsoon circula- tion to the south of the Plateau was weakened in June and July.Especially,the change was more manifest in June.Also, in the south side of the Plateau,the easterly component was strengthened in the lower troposphere,the monsoon rainfall was reduced over the central India.Moreover,the rainfall was obviously reduced over the southern India from the end of June to the beginning of July.

Biotic interchange between the Indian subcontinent and mainland Asia through time

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences,the research team led by Prof.Li Jiatang(李家堂)at Chengdu Institute of Biology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,explored the biotic interchange between the Indian subcontinent and mainland

Phylogeography and diversification of Oriental weaverbirds(Ploceus spp.):A gradual increase of eurytopy

Weaverbirds are a speciose group of colorful passerines inhabiting the Old World Tropics.Nevertheless,the Oriental weaverbirds(Ploceus spp.),widespread across southern Asia,are much less diverse and restricted to a few ecological niches compared to their African counterpart.To investigate their phylogeography,we retrieved 101 samples of Baya Weaver(P.philippinus),Streaked Weaver(P.manyar),Black-Throated Weaver(P.benghalensis)and Asian Golden Weaver(P.hypoxanthus)along with GenBank sequences of Finn's Weaver(P.megarhynchus).We reconstructed the first molecular phylogeny based on a dataset consisting of both mitochondrial and nuclear genes,dating the most recent common ancestor of Oriental Ploceus to~11 mya.Subsequent speciation appears to have been a combination of divergence within the Indian subcontinent and dispersal across a barrier situated between the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese region,which provided habitats with a varying degree of isolations and ultimately promoted divergences in allopatry.Two descendants of the earliest nodes,P.megarhynchus and P.hypoxanthus,are both rare and local,often found near large river systems,which perhaps reflects niche conservatism and a lack of adaptive potential.The three smaller species are all widespread,common and less habitat specific.The most recent divergence,between western and eastern P.philippinus populations,is supported by both phylogenetic and morphological evidence,pointing toward limited gene flow between them.However,a zone of intergradation may exist in Myanmar and Brahmaputra flood plains,thus preventing a recommendation for species level recognition without further study.

Oldest Asian Record of Snapping Shrimps(Malacostraca:Alpheidae)from the Kutch Basin,Western India and Associated Biota:Biostratigraphic,Paleoenvironmental and Paleoecological Significance

The oldest Asian record of alpheid shrimps,assigned to genus Alpheus,based on snapping claw fingertips from the Miocene Khari Nadi Formation in the Kutch Basin,western India reported herein,extends the fossil record of the family Alpheidae from Asia by~22 million years.An early Miocene(Aquitanian)age is estimated based on the associated assemblage of calcareous nannofossils,Sphenolithus disbelemnos,Cyclicargolithus floridanus,and Reticulofenestra haqii.The co-occurring microbiota includes bony fish otolith remains,identified as“genus Gobiidarum”,isolated teeth of Dasyatis rays,Sphyrna sharks,and teleosts,ctenoid and placoid scales,ostracods,belonging to the genera Paractinocythereis,Alocopocythere,Ruggieria,Aglaiocypris,Bairdoppilata,and echinoid spines.Taken together,the microfossil assemblage and data from chemical analyses using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy,X-Ray Diffraction and Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence of host and associated lithologies suggests prevalence of a shallow(neritic)to coastal marine(intertidal)depositional paleoenvironment.The present investigation also provides the oldest fossil evidence on the co-occurrence of Alpheus and gobiids(based on otoliths)that strongly advocates that the mutualistic association between these animal groups had developed by the Aquitanian.

Hepatitis E in Israel: A nation-wide retrospective study

AIM: To investigate the epidemiology, risk factors and clinical course of acute hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in Israel, an industrialized country.METHODS: A retrospective analysis of acute HEV cases diagnosed in Israel from 1993 to 2013. Acute HEV was defined by ALT/AST elevation and a positive HEV PCR test or positive anti-HEV-IgM serology. HEV RNA was tested by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Antibodies to HEV were tested retrospectively using an ELISA assay. HEV-RNA was sequenced using RT-PCR of ORF1 and ORF2 regions to diagnose genotype of the virus. Epidemiologic and clinical data were collected by reviewing the clinical files and through a telephone interview according to a structured questionnaire.RESULTS: Acute HEV was diagnosed in 68 patients. Among the 59 patients who gave an informed consent and were interviewed, 41% of infections were autochthonous (acquired in Israel), 44% travel-related and 15% imported by foreign workers. Autochthonous patients were mainly females (62.5%), more than half of them pregnant, 26% recalled consuming food or water in areas with poor sanitation, 44% ate non-kosher meat. Fulminant hepatitis developed in 3 patients (5%), all of them were females, two of them with post-partum infection, all acquired the disease in Israel (autochthonous). Israeli travelers with imported infection were predominantly males (73%), acquired the disease in the Indian subcontinent (81%), with 100% reporting having consumed fresh vegetables and drinks with ice cubes abroad. Six patients’ sera were tested for genotype and revealed HEV genotype 1 (all cases acquired in the Indian subcontinent).CONCLUSION: This is the first report which highlights the existence of hepatitis E as an autochthonous infection in Israel. Imported HEV originates mostly from the Indian subcontinent.