title: Nocturnal activities and host preferences of Phlebotomus orientalis in extra-domestic habitats of Kafta-Humera lowlands, Kala-azar endemic, Northwest Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phlebotomus orientalis feeds on a variety of wild and domestic animals and transmits Leishmania donovani from hitherto unknown reservoir hosts to humans in extra-domestic habitats in the Metema-Humera lowlands. The aim of this study was to determine the nocturnal activities of P. orientalis and its preferred blood meal hosts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Collections of Phlebotomus orientalis were made by using CDC light traps to determine the density as P. orientalis/hour CDC trap and preference to rodents by using Turner's traps in agricultural fields, animal shelters and thickets of Acacia seyal in Baeker site-1 and Gelanzeraf site-2. The blood meal sources were detected by Reverse Line Blot (RLB) of cytochrome b polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification in August, 2012 from collections of sand flies in thickets of A. seyal (March 2011) and dense mixed forest (July 2011) in Baeker site 1. RLB PCR involved first amplification of animal specific sequences of cytochrome b using PCR techniques. Then the amplified sequence was hybridized with 11 species-specific probes for domestic animals adsorbed on nitrocellulose membrane for calorimetric color detection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 6,083 P. orientalis (2,702 males and 3,381 females) were collected at hourly intervals using 22 CDC traps from January to May 2013. The peak activities of P. orientalis were at 1.00 a.m (134.0 ± 7.21) near animal shelters, 3.00 a.m (66.33 ± 46.40) in agricultural fields and 21:00 pm (40.6 ± 30.06) in thickets of A. seyal. This species was not attracted to the different species of rodents in trials carried out in March and April 2013. RLB PCR identified 7 human (28%), 9 mixed (human and cattle) (36%) and 2 cattle (8%) blood meals while 7 were unknown (28%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Female P. orientalis can bite humans in extra-domestic habitats of Kafta-Humera lowlands at any hour of the night with peak biting after midnight.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, School of Biomedical & Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia. wossensegedlemma@yahoo.com.|Department of Zoological Sciences, College of Natural Science, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. wossensegedlemma@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Wossenseged
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lemma
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoological Sciences, College of Natural Science, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. habte_tm@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Habte
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tekie
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Jerusalem, Israel. Ibrahima@ekmd.huji.ac.il.|The Kuvin Centre for the Study of Infectious & Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91120, Israel. Ibrahima@ekmd.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abassi
authors.affiliation: Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. meshesha_b@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Meshesha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balkew
authors.affiliation: Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. teshomegm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Teshome
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gebre-Michael
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Jerusalem, Israel. alonw@ekmd.huji.ac.il.|The Kuvin Centre for the Study of Infectious & Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91120, Israel. alonw@ekmd.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Alon
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Warburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. hailu_a2004@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Asrat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hailu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D065928:Forests; D058507:Host Specificity; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000502:physiology*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D008297:Male; D010691:Phlebotomus / Q000469:parasitology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000469:parasitology*