Overview

Sand flies possess a wide spectrum of hosts. The most important hosts are rodents, dogs and man, due to the capacity of being a zoonotic reservoir for Leishmania. Apart from these, domestic livestock, other carnivores, as well as reptiles and amphibia also belong to the host spectrum. The Indian desert gerbil (Meriones hurrianae), the fat-tailed sand rat (Psammomys obesus), the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus), the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and the bush hyrax (Heterohyrax brucei), the lesser ant-eater (Tamandua teradactyla), the opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) (in Brazil e.g.) and the Panamanian (Choloepus hoffmanni) and the Brazilian two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus), to mention only some, belong to the host spectrum of sand flies and have been proven to be important reservoir hosts for different species of Leishmania.