Abstract
BackgroundTsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) are the vectors of African trypanosomosis, the causal agent of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals. Glossina fuscipes fuscipes is one of the most important tsetse vectors of sleeping sickness, particularly in Central Africa. Due to the development of resistance of the trypanosomes to the commonly used trypanocidal drugs and the lack of effective vaccines, vector control approaches remain the most effective strategies for sustainable management of those diseases. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an effective, environment-friendly method for the management of tsetse flies in the context of area-wide integrated pest management programs (AW-IPM). This technique relies on the mass-production of the target insect, its sterilization with ionizing radiation and the release of sterile males in the target area where they will mate with wild females and induce sterility in the native population. It has been shown that Glossina pallidipes salivary gland hypertrophy virus (GpSGHV) infection causes a decrease in fecundity and fertility hampering the maintenance of colonies of the tsetse fly G. pallidipes. This virus has also been detected in different species of tsetse files. In this study, we evaluated the impact of GpSGHV on the performance of a colony of the heterologous host G. f. fuscipes, including the flies’ productivity, mortality, survival, flight propensity and mating ability and insemination rates.ResultsEven though GpSGHV infection did not induce SGH symptoms, it significantly reduced all examined parameters, except adult flight propensity and insemination rate.ConclusionThese results emphasize the important role of GpSGHV management strategy in the maintenance of G. f. fuscipes colonies and the urgent need to implement measures to avoid virus infection, to ensure the optimal mass production of this tsetse species for use in AW-IPM programs with an SIT component.
Highlights
Tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) are the vectors of African trypanosomosis, the causal agent of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals
Detection of Glossina pallidipes salivary gland hypertrophy virus (GpSGHV) infection in injected flies The GpSGHV titer in virus-injected flies was assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) at various times post injection to investigate whether the virus could infect and replicate in injected flies
The results indicate that the virus replication was rather slow as no significant increase in the virus titer between 0 time and 9 dpi was observed, but later the virus titer increase by 5. 22 fold change at 18 dpi (Fig. 1)
Summary
Tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) are the vectors of African trypanosomosis, the causal agent of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an effective, environment-friendly method for the management of tsetse flies in the context of area-wide integrated pest management programs (AW-IPM). This technique relies on the massproduction of the target insect, its sterilization with ionizing radiation and the release of sterile males in the target area where they will mate with wild females and induce sterility in the native population. Tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) are the only cyclical vectors of the pathogenic African trypanosomes that cause human African trypanosomosis (HAT) or sleeping sickness and African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) or nagana in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. The SIT has proven to be a powerful control tactic for use against tsetse flies and other Diptera as part of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) approaches [14]
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