Abstract
Diseases of cattle have been headline news in the UK over the past few years: increasing levels of TB since 1980, then the epidemics of BSE and, more recently, foot and mouth disease. In sub-Saharan Africa, cattle can act as reservoir hosts for Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, a cause of human sleeping sickness, spread by tsetse flies. In cattle, the infection results in no obvious symptoms, but in humans it can be fatal if left untreated. An animal reservoir is considered essential for the persistence of this form of sleeping sickness. The introduction of infected but apparently healthy cattle into a disease-free, but tsetse-infested, area could be a recipe for disaster. This has been documented recently in Uganda by Fèvre et al.1 Fèvre E.M. et al. The origins of a new Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense sleeping sickness outbreak in eastern Uganda. Lancet. 2001; 358: 625-628 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (162) Google Scholar , where an outbreak of human sleeping sickness was traced to a single cattle market that traded in cattle imported from areas where cattle infections of T. b. rhodesiense are endemic.
Published Version
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