Background: The transmission of sleeping sickness occurs primarily in rural areas, and exposed populations are those living from rural activities such as agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry or hunting. However, urban and suburban foci are more and more reported in T. b. gambiense areas. In Libreville town, sleeping sickness cases are regularly diagnosed. In order to investigate about the establishment of a transmission cycle of that disease, we have carried out an entomological survey in two quarters in the vicinity of the town.

Methods: Vavoua traps were set out in all suitable biotopes for tsetse flies during four days and examined twice a day. Flies were collected, identified and dissected.

Results: Two species of Glossina were caught: G. palpalis palpalis (90.58%) and G. caliginea (9.42%). A total infection rate of 9.37% was observed after dissection of all non-teneral flies captured.

Conclusion: These results suggest the establishment of a trypanosomiasis transmission cycle in the area. No salivary gland was found infected. Given that infected persons are regularly detected, we can think about the existence of a suburban sleeping sickness focus in Libreville. More analysis is needed concerning the identification of human trypanosomes and the origin of Glossina blood meals that may confirm the existence of that focus.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824479PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v13i2.10DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

sleeping sickness
16
suburban sleeping
8
transmission cycle
8
sickness
4
sickness libreville?
4
libreville? background
4
background transmission
4
transmission sleeping
4
sickness occurs
4
occurs rural
4

Similar Publications

The aim of this study was to investigate whether Trypanosoma vivax is transmitted via rectal palpation in cattle, using the same glove with different blood scores, from an animal with an acute infection of this protozoan. In addition, the efficacy of iodine as disinfectant, together with water with or without the presence of feces, to prevent the transmission of T. vivax in cattle during the rectal palpation process was evaluated in the laboratory and animals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Uncovering the Mechanism of Action of Antiprotozoal Agents: A Survey on Photoaffinity Labeling Strategy.

Pharmaceuticals (Basel)

December 2024

Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, della Salute e delle Professioni Sanitarie, Università degli Studi "Link Campus University", Via del Casale di S. Pio V 44, I-00165 Rome, Italy.

, , and parasites are responsible for infectious diseases threatening millions of people worldwide. Despite more recent efforts devoted to the search for new antiprotozoal agents, efficacy, safety, and resistance issues still hinder the development of suited therapeutic options. The lack of robustly validated targets and the complexity of parasite's diseases have made phenotypic screening a preferential drug discovery strategy for the identification of new chemical entities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is one of the most lethal of the neglected tropical diseases. While the discovery of a novel antitrypanosomal drug is highly desired, the creation of a superior lead compound is challenging. Herein we report ukabamide (), which was isolated from a marine sp.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Obesity is associated with an increased risk of aortic diseases and operative risks. Currently, there are no effective drugs available to prevent the occurrence and progression of aortic aneurysms or dissections. We investigated potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets using a multi-omics approach.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

RNA-specific nucleotidyltransferases (rNTrs) add nontemplated nucleotides to the 3 end of RNA. Two noncanonical rNTRs that are thought to be poly(A) polymerases (PAPs) have been identified in the mitochondria of trypanosomes - KPAP1 and KPAP2. KPAP1 is the primary polymerase that adds adenines (As) to trypanosome mitochondrial mRNA 3 tails, while KPAP2 is a non-essential putative polymerase whose role in the mitochondria is ambiguous.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!