Mouse feed inoculation could help prevent Leishmaniasis by killing sand fleas

An important but perhaps unrecognized discovery that can reduce the spread and incidence of this debilitating disease. The same methodology being examined for reducing Lyme disease in North American mouse populations can be employed in areas throughout the world where Leishmaniasis and it's insect carrier are present.

From the paper by Thomas M. Mascari, et al., 2013. The sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi is the vector of Leishmania major, which is a causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Old World. Despite its impact on public health, leishmaniasis remains a problem because of the substantial holes that remain in our understanding of sand fly ecology and the failure of traditional vector control methods. We conducted laboratory and field trials to demonstrate for the first time that sand flies are feeding on the feces of rodents (the reservoirs of L. major). Based on this new information, we now can identify areas where sand flies feed on rodent feces and therefore could be targeted using rodent baits containing an insecticide that passes into the feces of baited rodents. For more information read the complete paper: Ecological and Control Techniques for Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) Associated with Rodent Reservoirs of Leishmaniasis