J Vector Borne Dis 45, December 2008, pp. 255–272 Review Articles Insect vectors of Leishmania: distribution, physiology and their control Umakant Sharma & Sarman Singh Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India Abstract Leishmaniasis is a deadly vector-borne disease that causes significant morbidity and mortality in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Mediterranean regions. The causative agent of leishmaniasis is trans- mitted from man to man by a tiny insect called sandfly. Approximately, 600 species of sandflies are known but only 10% of these act as disease vectors. Further, only 30 species of these are important from public health point. Fauna of Indian sub-zone is represented by 46 species, of these, 11 belong to Phlebotomine species and 35 to Sergentomyia species. Phlebotomus argentipes is the proven vec- tor of kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis in India. This review gives an insight into the insect vectors of human leishmaniasis, their geographical distribution, recent taxonomic classification, habitat, and different control measures including indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), environmental management, biological control, and emerging resistance to DDT. Role of satellite remote sensing for early prediction of the disease by identifying the sandflygenic conditions cannot be undermined. The article also underlines the importance of synthetic pheromones which can be used in near future for the control of these vectors. Key words Geographic distribution – Leishmania – Lutzomia – Phlebotomus – sandfly – taxonomy –vector control Introduction Leishmaniasis is one of the most diverse and complex of all vector borne diseases. Because it involves sev- eral overlapping species and sandfly vectors, the dis- ease has a complex ecology and epidemiology. It is caused by an obligate intramacrophage protozoan, characterized by diversity and complexity. A total of about 21 Leishmania spp. have been identified to be pathogenic to human 1 . Leishmania are one of the sev- eral genera within the family Trypanosomatidae, and are characterized by the possession of a kinetoplast, a unique form of mitochondrial DNA. In most in- stances, they cause disease in animals, and humans become infected incidentally when they enter an area of endemicity. Leishmaniasis presents mainly in three clinical forms, of which visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most severe form. Leishmaniasis has been considered tropical afflictions that together constitute one of the six entities on the World Health Organization/Tropi- cal Disease Research (WHO/TDR) list of most im- portant diseases. The disease is endemic in 88 coun- tries on five continents with a total of 350 million people at risk and annually 12 million cases are re-