Abstract
African trypanosomiasis is a severe parasitic disease that affects both humans and livestock. Several different species may cause animal trypanosomosis and although Trypanosoma vivax (sub-genus Duttonella) is currently responsible for the vast majority of debilitating cases causing great economic hardship in West Africa and South America, little is known about its biology and interaction with its hosts. Relatively speaking, T. vivax has been more than neglected despite an urgent need to develop efficient control strategies. Some pioneering rodent models were developed to circumvent the difficulties of working with livestock, but disappointedly were for the most part discontinued decades ago. To gain more insight into the biology of T. vivax, its interactions with the host and consequently its pathogenesis, we have developed a number of reproducible murine models using a parasite isolate that is infectious for rodents. Firstly, we analyzed the parasitical characteristics of the infection using inbred and outbred mouse strains to compare the impact of host genetic background on the infection and on survival rates. Hematological studies showed that the infection gave rise to severe anemia, and histopathological investigations in various organs showed multifocal inflammatory infiltrates associated with extramedullary hematopoiesis in the liver, and cerebral edema. The models developed are consistent with field observations and pave the way for subsequent in-depth studies into the pathogenesis of T. vivax - trypanosomosis.
Highlights
African trypanosomiasis, one of the most neglected diseases, consists of a number of important human and animal pathologies caused by parasitic protists of the order Kinetoplastida
While most research efforts have focused on T. b. brucei trypanosomosis, infections caused by T. vivax and T. congolense which predominate in livestock and small ruminants have been subject to little study
In order to circumvent the major constraints inherent to studying T. vivax/host interactions in the field, we developed in vivo murine models of T. vivax trypanosomosis
Summary
One of the most neglected diseases, consists of a number of important human and animal pathologies caused by parasitic protists of the order Kinetoplastida. Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness, and animal trypanosomosis, or Nagana, are vector-borne diseases, that are primarily cyclically transmitted by tsetse flies. HAT is a major public health problem in 35 sub-Saharan countries. T. vivax accounts for up to half of total Trypanosoma prevalence in West Africa where it is considered the major pathogen for livestock and small ruminants [1,2,3]. West African T. vivax isolates were introduced long ago into South American countries where it represents a real threat since it can be efficiently transmitted across vertebrate hosts by mechanical means and by various biting flies and tabanids [4,5,6]
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