Before a sandfly bites, she doesn’t buzz like a mosquito. The beige insect swoops in silently, and only when the itching begins do you know you’ve been her victim. Usually the bite is just an uncomfortable annoyance.
However, more than 90 sandfly species are known to transmit trypanosome parasites called Leishmania. A small fraction of people infected with the parasite will develop leishmaniasis, a disease affecting people in 88 countries.