-14- 



to feed Lu. longipalpis on infected dogs. Promastigotes developed in 

 the guts of these sand flies and were infective upon subsequent 

 inoculation into uninfected hamsters (Lainson, 1982). With the 

 accidental death of Evandro Chagas in 1940, interest in visceral 

 leishmaniasis also seemed to die, not to be resurrected until 1954 

 when Deane and Deane, investigating serious outbreaks of the disease 

 in the state of Ceara, Brazil, found wild-caught Lu_. longipalpis 

 heavily infected with promastigotes believed to be L donovani . They 

 also noted highly active flagellates in the biting mouthparts of other 

 Lu . 1 ongipal pis they had fed on a naturally-infected fox eight days 

 previously (Lainson, 1982). Although the promastigotes seen by the 

 Deanes were not proven to be L d_. chagasi , the epidemiological 

 evidence was so strong that there remained little doubt as to the 

 importance of this sand fly (Lainson, 1982). 



Further evidence to incriminate this peridomestic vector came in 

 1977 when Lainson and colleagues achieved five separate transmissions 

 of L. d_. chagasi in hamsters, by bite of laboratory-bred insects which 

 had previously ingested amastigotes in artificially infected rabbit 

 blood (Lainson et aj_., 1977). 



Leishmania mexicana (American cutaneous leishmaniasis, bay sore, 

 chiclero's ul cer). Experimental infection of syl vatic sand flies with 

 parasites causing American cutaneous leishmaniasis has been 

 accomplished in a wide range of species, but experimental transmission 

 has been difficult to achieve because of the wide choice of potential 

 vectors. Strangways-Dixon and Lainson (1962) infected wild-caught 

 females of nine species of sand flies in Belize by feeding them on 

 hamsters exhibiting skin lesions due to L. m. mexicana. The flies then 



