The peridomiciliar sand fly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) in areas of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Além Paraíba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in several regions of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, with 6,954 reported cases of this disease between the years 2001 and 2004. Alem Paraiba, in the state of Minas Gerais, a municipality bordering the state of Rio de Janeiro, is known as the type locality of Leishmania braziliensis Vianna, 1911. In this municipality the first Brazilian sand fly species was described in a region known as Benjamin Constant (Lutz and Neiva 1912), and among the described species some vectors of leishmaniasis as Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz and Neiva 1912) and Nyssomyia intermedia (Lutz and Neiva 1912), are prominent. Human cases of CL occur mainly in the rural population of Alem Paraiba. In the last four centuries, this region has undergone an intense deforestation due to increasing agricultural and cattle-raising activities. Primitive forests are still found and may be responsible for the maintenance of cutaneous leishmaniasis in this area (Marzochi and Marzochi 1994).