Abstract
BackgroundThe Bafia sleeping sickness focus of Cameroon is considered as “silent” with no case reported for about 20 years despite medical surveys performed during the last decades. In this focus, all epidemiological factors that can contribute to trypanosomes transmission are present. To update our knowledge on the current risks of Human and Animal African trypanosomiases, different trypanosome species were identified in midguts of tsetse flies captured in the Bafia focus.MethodsTsetse flies were trapped using pyramidal traps. Each tsetse fly was identified and live flies were dissected and their midguts collected. DNA was extracted from each midgut and thereafter, blood meals and different trypanosome species were identified with molecular tools. The biological data were transported onto maps in order to have their distribution.ResultsOf the 98 traps set up, 461 Glossina palpalis palpalis were captured; 322 (69.8 %) tsetse flies were dissected and 49 (15.2 %) teneral flies identified. The average apparent density of tsetse flies per day was 1.18. Of the 35 (10.9 %) blood meals collected, 82 % were taken on pigs and 17.6 % on humans. Eighty two (25.5 %) trypanosome infections were identified: 56 (17.4 %) T. congolense savannah, 17 (5.3 %) T. congolense forest, 5 (1.6 %) T. vivax and 4 (1.2 %) T. brucei s.l. No infection of T. simiae and T. b. gambiense was identified. Sixty seven (81.7 %) infections were single and 15 (18.3 %) mixed involving one triple infection (T. congolense forest, T. brucei and T. vivax) and 14 double infections: 11 T. congolense forest and T. congolense savannah, two T. congolense savannah and T. brucei, and one of T. brucei and T. vivax. The generated maps show the distribution of tsetse flies and trypanosome infections across the focus.ConclusionThis study has shown that animal trypanosomes remain an important problem in this region. Meanwhile, it is very likely that HAT does not seem anymore to be a public health problem in this focus. The generated maps enabled us to define high risk transmission areas for AAT, and where disease control must be focused in order to improve animal health as well as the quantity of animal proteins.
Highlights
The Bafia sleeping sickness focus of Cameroon is considered as “silent” with no case reported for about 20 years despite medical surveys performed during the last decades
Studies undertaken to improve our epidemiological knowledge on Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) revealed the presence of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in various domestic and wild animal species of central African HAT foci [6,7,8,9,10]; confirming results obtained in West Africa [11,12,13]
It provided data that enabled us to partially fill the gap observed on the published geo-referenced data on tsetse infections
Summary
The Bafia sleeping sickness focus of Cameroon is considered as “silent” with no case reported for about 20 years despite medical surveys performed during the last decades In this focus, all epidemiological factors that can contribute to trypanosomes transmission are present. In such context where both diseases share the same environment, coexist in the same host and are transmitted by the same tsetse fly species, control measures targeting human and animal diseases can be developed At this moment where the elimination of HAT is foreseen and where very few cases are detected in most endemic foci, the development of control measures targeting HAT and AAT is becoming more and more important. Up until now, published geo-referenced data on tsetse infection are rare [23], and studies such as the present one will contribute to filling this gap
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