[Ecology of leishmaniasis in the south of France. 11. Canine leishmaniasis: successful experimental transmission from dog to dog by the bite of Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir, 1921 (author's transl)].

As part of a study of visceral leishmaniasis in the Cévennes in southern France, an infection was transmitted from dog to dog by the bite of a single sandfly, Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir, 1921. The role of this species as a vector, suspected from earlier studies, is, therefore, confirmed. Twenty female sandflies, which had engorged on a naturally infected dog 23 +/- 2 days previously were put with a healthy dog which, after an incubation period of 15 months, developed viscero-cutaneous leishmaniasis. In dissections of the sandflies immediately after contact with the experimental dog, it was found that only one had engorged. All of 17 sandflies dissected had midgut infections: 10 of these also had infections in the pharynx. The engorged specimen additionally had parasites in the proboscis, a condition thought by many workers to be necessary for the parasite to be transmitted by bite.