O PAPEL DOS EIXOS VIÁRIOS NA DISTRIBUIÇÃO DE Lutzomyia longipalpis sensu lato (Diptera: Psychodidae) E DA LEISHMANIOSE VISCERAL NA ILHA DO MARANHÃO, BRASIL

Abstract

Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz and Neiva, 1912, the main vector of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) in the New World, is widely distributed on the Maranhão Island, which comprises the municipalities of São Luís, São José de Ribamar, Raposa and Paço do Lumiar. This vector demonstrates strong adaptation to environments modified by anthropic action and is closely related to the disease expansion process. In order to better understand this dynamic process, the importance of the main road axes of the Island of Maranhão in the spatio-temporal dispersion of the vector and the disease was investigated. The vector records obtained from 1982 to 2004 by Fundação Nacional da Saúde (FUNASA) and between 1996-2005 and 2016-2018 by Laboratório de Entomologia e Vetores from Universidade Federal do Maranhão were analyzed. The notifications of autochthonous and positive cases of VL in the period corresponding to 1982 and 2000 were made available by FUNASA, and in the period corresponding to 2001 and 2020 they were obtained from the Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN), using the variables of the year of notification, municipality of residence, autochthonous cases and positive parasitological examination. The vector was found in 75 rural and urban locations located near the highways of BR-135, MA-201, MA-202, MA-203 and MA- 204, of which 66 reported cases of the disease. The roads that contributed with the highest number of positive locations for the vector were BR-135 (28 locations; 27.6% of the captured specimens) and MA-201 (22; 30.4%). Correspondingly, the municipalities crossed by these two routes were the most affected by the disease: São Luís (1,601 cases) and São José de Ribamar (961 cases). The vector infested with less frequency the road axes MA-202 (6 locations; 14% of the captured specimens) and MA-203 (14: 23.2%), which cross the municipalities of Paço do Lumiar and Raposa, which recorded 375 and 258 cases of VL, respectively. Our findings indicate that the development of the road system and the consequent urbanization in the island's municipalities, historically, until the present day, were decisive for the spatial distribution of localities and the increase of new areas for the occurrence of the vector and emergence of VL.