Diversity of Phlebotomus perniciosus in Provence, Southeastern France: Detection of Two Putative New Phlebovirus Sequences

Phlebotomine sand flies are known to transmit Leishmania, bacteria, and viruses that affect humans and animals in many countries worldwide. Sand fly–borne viruses belong mainly to the Phlebovirus, Vesiculovirus, and Orbivirus genera, and some of them are associated with outbreaks or sporadic human cases in the Mediterranean Europe. Up to now, Toscana virus is the only phlebovirus of medical importance identified in France. To study the diversity of the sand fly population living in the southeastern France, an entomological study was conducted from May to October, 2007. Most of the trapped sand flies belonged to Phlebotomus perniciosus (82.0%) and Sergentomyia minuta (17.3%) species; only three specimens were Phlebotomus ariasi. Molecular characterization of the P. perniciosus specimen based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene demonstrated different subpopulations living in the same areas. Most of the specimens belonged to the haplotypes pern01 and pern09, already described in France, but some belonged to original new haplotypes. The detection of one viral sequence clustering with Massilia/Granada virus, and of four sequences corresponding to two potential new phleboviruses (proposed names Olbia and Provencia viruses, respectively), revealed an unexpected diversity of phlebovirus species in France.