Abstract
Guinea is the West African country which is currently the most prevalent for sleeping sickness. The littoral area is the region where most of the recent sleeping sickness cases have been described, especially the mangrove sleeping sickness foci of Dubreka and Boffa where Glossina palpalis gambiensis is the vector. Loos islands constitute a small archipelago 5 km apart from the capital, Conakry. Medical, animal, and entomological surveys were implemented in these islands in Oct-Nov 2006. No pathogenic trypanosomes were found in these surveys. The locally very high tsetse densities (up to more than 100 tsetse/trap/day) linked to pig rearing, constitute a high potential risk for humans (taking into account populations movements with neighboring active sleeping sickness foci of the Guinea littoral, and the history of sleeping sickness on these islands), and for the economically important pig rearing, as well as a danger for tourism. This situation, associated to the possibility of elimination of these tsetse populations due to low possibility of reinvasion, led the National Control Program to launch a tsetse elimination project following an "area wide" strategy for the first time in West Africa, which participates in the global objective of the PATTEC (Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Eradication Campaign).
Highlights
Atotal of 638 tsetse were caught, all belonging to the G. p. gambiensis subspecies
In Kassa, locally high densities of tsetse were found, always in traps located near pig pens (Fig. 2)
Ecology of G. p. gambiensis on Loos islands is very different from what is known in the West African humid savannah area, where they are mainly found in the riverine vegetation (Buxton, 1955; Bouyer et al, 2005)
Summary
The Loos islands constitute a small archipelago off the coast of Guinea Conakry, West Africa. Three of the five islands are inhabited (Fotoba, Kassa and Room), mainly involved agriculture (manioc, palm trees, mangoes), fishing, pig. – Geographic location of study area and apparent density of G. p. TSETSE AND TRYPANOSOMOSIS ON LOOS ISLANDS, GUINEA breeding, tourism, bauxite mining was important during 1950-70. Pig breeding constitutes an important secondary economic activity in Kassa; pigs are generally sold and sent to Conakry. The vegetation is constituted of anthropised shrub Guinean savannah on the rocky areas, secondary forests in the fallow areas and vergers of palms (Elaeis guineensis) and mango trees; annual rainfall is around 4,000 mm
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