Abstract
Control of the Riverine (Palpalis) group of tsetse flies is normally achieved with stationary artificial devices such as traps or insecticide-treated targets. The efficiency of biconical traps (the standard control device), 1×1 m black targets and small 25×25 cm targets with flanking nets was compared using electrocuting sampling methods. The work was done on Glossina tachinoides and G. palpalis gambiensis (Burkina Faso), G. fuscipes quanzensis (Democratic Republic of Congo), G. f. martinii (Tanzania) and G. f. fuscipes (Kenya). The killing effectiveness (measured as the catch per m2 of cloth) for small targets plus flanking nets is 5.5–15X greater than for 1 m2 targets and 8.6–37.5X greater than for biconical traps. This has important implications for the costs of control of the Riverine group of tsetse vectors of sleeping sickness.
Highlights
African sleeping sickness or Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is endemic to 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa covering 9 million km2 with 60 million of the 400 million inhabitants at risk of the disease
Vector control is the only method of disease prevention
Especially those lacking high densities of cattle, the only control option for routine use against tsetse flies are insecticide-treated targets or biconical traps. These methods in their current form are often too expensive for routine use against the riverine tsetse species that are the major vectors of sleeping sickness
Summary
African sleeping sickness or Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is endemic to 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa covering 9 million km with 60 million of the 400 million inhabitants at risk of the disease. Two forms of the disease exists, the Rhodesian (or East African) form being more acute and the Gambian form more chronic. Both these forms of the disease are fatal if left untreated and has an impact of 1.59M DALYs (disability adjusted life years). The related disease (nagana) in domesticated animals causes estimated losses to African agriculture of US$4.5bn per year [4]. The trypanosomes causing HAT are transmitted by tsetse flies, those of the Riverine (Palpalis) group. The only means of preventing the disease is vector control this is not routinely practiced largely because of the cost
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