Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne parasitic disease caused by Leishmania spp., transmitted to humans by phlebotomine sand flies. The development of Leishmania into infective metacyclic promastigotes occurs within the sand fly gut, where the bacterial microbiota plays a pivotal role in parasite development and transmission dynamics. This study aimed to characterize the gut bacterial composition of phlebotomine sand flies collected from both endemic (Lalla Aaziza) and non-endemic (Marrakech) regions...

Phlebotomine-borne diseases, transmitted by sand flies, cause significant public health burdens worldwide. In Morocco, Phlebotomus papatasi is a primary vector for Leishmania major and phleboviruses. Despite extensive research in other countries, entomopathogenic parasite investigations in P. papatasi have not been conducted in Morocco until now. This study performed proteomic analysis of female P. papatasi collected from four Moroccan localities using liquid chromatography-tandem mass...

Cryptosporidiosis threatens the lives of young children in developing countries and newborn calves around the world. No vaccine or therapy can prevent or cure this diarrhea-inducing enteric disease caused by Cryptosporidium spp. protozoan parasites. There is an essential need to discover new therapeutic drugs efficient in reducing parasite burden in infected individuals. Research therefore relies on reliable small animal models of cryptosporidiosis. Here, we present excellent mouse models which...