{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,26]],"date-time":"2026-03-26T13:14:37Z","timestamp":1774530877833,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,15]],"date-time":"2021-03-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615766400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010269","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["WT091689MF"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["WT091689MF"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Zoontic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) due to Leishmania infantum is a potentially fatal protozoan parasitic disease of humans and dogs. In the Americas, dogs are the reservoir and the sand fly, Lutzomyia longipalpis, the principal vector. A synthetic version of the male sand fly produced sex-aggregation pheromone attracts both female and male conspecifics to co-located insecticide, reducing both reservoir infection and vector abundance. However the effect of the synthetic pheromone on the vector\u2019s \u201cchoice\u201c of host (human, animal reservoir, or dead-end host) for blood feeding in the presence of the pheromone is less well understood. In this study, we developed a modelling framework to allow us to predict the relative attractiveness of the synthetic pheromone and potential alterations in host choice. Our analysis indicates that the synthetic pheromone can attract 53% (95% CIs: 39%\u201386%) of host-seeking female Lu. longipalpis and thus it out-competes competing host odours. Importantly, the results suggest that the synthetic pheromone can lure vectors away from humans and dogs, such that when co-located with insecticide, it provides protection against transmission leading to human and canine ZVL.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms9030602","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,15]],"date-time":"2021-03-15T11:38:58Z","timestamp":1615808338000},"page":"602","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Modelling Sand Fly Lutzomyia longipalpis Attraction to Host Odour: Synthetic Sex-Aggregation Pheromone Dominates the Response"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3877-6440","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Renata","family":"Retkute","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK"},{"name":"Epidemiology and Modelling Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Erin","family":"Dilger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK"},{"name":"School of Life Sciences, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9196-8516","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"James G. C.","family":"Hamilton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancashire LA1 4YG, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Matt J.","family":"Keeling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Orin","family":"Courtenay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK"},{"name":"School of Life Sciences, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wilson, A.L., Courtenay, O., Kelly-Hope, L.A., Scott, T.W., Takken, W., Torr, S.J., and Lindsay, S.W. 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