Abstract
Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes Gambian trypanosomosis, a disease ravaging affected rural parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. We screened 1200 human blood samples for T. b. gambiense using the card agglutination test for trypanosomosis, characterized trypanosome isolates with Trypanosoma gambiense serum glycoprotein-PCR (TgsGP-PCR), and analyzed our data using Chi square and odds ratio at 95% confidence interval for statistical association. Of the 1200 samples, the CATT revealed an overall infection rate of 1.8% which ranged between 0.0% and 3.5% across study sites. Age and sex based infection rates ranged between 1.2% and 2.3%. We isolated 7 (33.3%) trypanosomes from the 21 seropositive samples using immunosuppressed mice which were identified as T. b. gambiense group 1 by TgsGP-PCR. Based on study sites, PCR revealed an overall infection rate of 0.6% which ranged between 0.0% and 1.5%. Females and males revealed PCR based infection rates of 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively. Infection rates in adults (1.3%) and children (0.1%) varied significantly (p < 0.05). We observed silent T. b. gambiense infections among residents of this focus. Risks of disease development into the second fatal stage in these patients who may also serve as reservoirs of infection in the focus exist.
Highlights
Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes the Gambian sleeping sickness, a very chronic, debilitating, complex, and fatal parasitic zoonosis ravaging affected rural parts of Sub-Saharan Africa
The disease transmitted by tsetse flies is widespread in the Sub-Saharan African region posing serious public health problems in the region and to tourists visiting tropical Africa [1, 2]
The parasite is divided into two subtypes; type 1 causes a more chronic disease and represents about 90% of all cases of Gambian trypanosomosis, while type 2 is said to be associated with an acute like disease and represents the remaining 10% of the disease [4, 5]
Summary
Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes the Gambian sleeping sickness, a very chronic, debilitating, complex, and fatal parasitic zoonosis ravaging affected rural parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The disease transmitted by tsetse flies is widespread in the Sub-Saharan African region posing serious public health problems in the region and to tourists visiting tropical Africa [1, 2]. Transmission of the parasite is cyclical through bites of infected tsetse flies including Glossina palpalis, G. tachinoides, and G. fuscipes. These vectors are especially common at watering places like rivers or lakes where people frequently visit to collect water and do their washing and animals visit to drink water [3]. The parasite is divided into two subtypes; type 1 causes a more chronic disease and represents about 90% of all cases of Gambian trypanosomosis, while type 2 is said to be associated with an acute like disease and represents the remaining 10% of the disease [4, 5]
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