Transmission of
Leishmania
was studied in 27 coffee plantations in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais.
Eighteen females and six males (11.6% of the people tested), aged between
7-65 gave a positive response to the Montenegro skin test. Awareness of
sand flies based on the ability of respondents to identify the insects using
up to seven predetermined characteristics was significantly greater among
inhabitants of houses occupied by at least one Mn+ve individual. Five species
of phlebotomine sand fly, including three suspected Leishmania vectors,
were collected within plantations under three different cultivation systems.
Four of these species i.e.,
Lu. fischeri
(Pinto 1926),
Lu. migonei
(França 1920),
Lu. misionensis
(Castro 1959) and
Lutzomyia whitmani
(Antunes & Coutinho 1939) were collected in an organic plantation and
the last of these was also present in the other two plantation types. The
remaining species, Lu. intermedia (Lutz & Neiva 1912), was collected
in plantations under both the "adensado" and "convencional"
systems. The results of this study indicate that transmission of Leishmania
to man in coffee-growing areas of Minas Gerais may involve phlebotomine
sand flies that inhabit plantations.