Sandflies (Phlebotomus spp.) are the most important carriers of viruses and parasites in the Mediterranean, Africa, Middle East and Asia. In Europe, there are several sandfly species and each has a different competence for transmitting vector-borne diseases. Fly activity is higher in warmer months and because of climate changes their habitat is expanding. Sandflies are important vectors of phleboviruses belonging to the Phenuviridae family, order Bunyavirales. In humans and animals, infections with phleboviruses are most often associated with a symptomatic disease similar to influenza. Infection with a Toscana virus can also result in meningitis or severe neurological complications in humans. Phleboviruses have already been described in neighbouring countries with a similar climate. There is also an increasing number of phlebovine infections in Slovenia, but the frequency of infections of the vectors is still unknown. The aim of our study was to introduce and to optimize molecular protocols for specific detection of phleboviruses in different locations in Slovenia. Although we successfully introduced and optimized specific molecular diagnostic protocols for the detection of phleboviruses in sandfly samples, all tested samples, collected in Slovenia in 2017 and 2018 were found negative.
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