Completed Digestion, Kidneys & Other Organs Infection & Immunity

Field trials of synthetic sandfly sex pheromone to reduce human visceral leishmaniasis transmission.

Funder Wellcome Charity-funded
Associated organisations Keele University · University of Warwick Europe PMC affiliations are not treated as award recipients or mapped locations.
Funding £1.4M
Period Jan 2015 — May 2019

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A synthetic copy of the male sandfly’s mating signal is being tested in Brazil to see if it can lure blood-seeking females into lethal insecticide, cutting the spread of visceral leishmaniasis. Visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by sandfly bites that kills tens of thousands of people each year, mostly in poor rural areas. Current control relies on killing infected dogs—the main reservoir—and spraying insecticide, but both methods are expensive, hard to sustain, and losing effectiveness. The synthetic pheromone offers a cheaper, more targeted alternative: it attracts female sandflies to insecticide-treated surfaces, reducing the need to spray entire villages. If the trial confirms that the lure lowers infection rates in dogs and humans, the product could become a practical tool for public health programmes. It would give communities a way to interrupt transmission without culling pets or blanketing the environment in chemicals. The researchers are also gathering the data needed for regulatory approval, so the lure can be deployed at scale. This is applied field research with a clear path to real-world use.

View original technical description
Visceral leishmaniasis is a major vector-borne public and veterinary health problem with few options for sustainable control. A synthetic copy of the male sand fly vector pheromone has been developed demonstrating that it attracts blood-seeking transmitting female sand flies to lethal insecticide, indicating the lures potential as a product to be used in operational programs to reduce infection and transmission. As part of the registration portfolio, a 24 month stratified cluster randomised cont rol trial (SCRT) is underway in Brazil to test the efficacy of the product to reduce infection incidence in the sole reservoir host (dogs). The Interim analysis (half-way point) of the SCRT to demonstrate product safety confirmed that the product is not inadvertently causing harm. On the contrary, the relative risk of canine infection is declining, to be confirmed by the statistically powered follow-up at 24 months. These results imply that the SCRT should also impact on human infection. This pr oposals objective is to strengthen the products registration portfolio by linking canine and human infection outcomes. The aims are (i) to demonstrate the products efficacy against human exposure/infection, and (ii) to characterise the products properties in line with regulatory and product development requirements, for effective field deployment.

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Researchers

Gordon Hamilton (EPMC Awardee)Orin Courtenay (EPMC Awardee)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Field trials of synthetic sex pheromone as a tool to reduce visceral leishmaniasis transmission by Lutzomyia longipalpis in Brazil.
Elucidating biosynthesis of the Lutzomyia longipalpis sandfly pheromone for sustainable production and control of leishmaniasis
LEISHBLOCK: Exploring an antileishmanial drug toolbox for blocking pathogen transmission in the sand fly vector.
Dissecting and exploiting vector components of Leishmania transmission.
Novel control strategies for Lutzomyia longipalpis sand flies through CRISPR-Cas9 genetic modification of olfaction and Wolbachia transinfection

Original classification

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