The Epidemiology of Sleeping Sickness in Samia Location, Kenya.

Abstract

In 1964 a T. rhodesiense sleeping sickness epidemic occurred in Alego Central Nyanza. Here the disease was transmitted by Glossina fuscipes which had left its riverine habitat and had settled in the dense hedges around the homesteads so that the flies had come into very close contact with man and his livestock. The disease was found to have a reservoir in cattle that could harbor the trypanosome for many months without showing any signs of illness. To control the epidemic and to prevent further spread, the Government decided to eradicate all tsetse in Central Nyanza by spraying the bush with insecticides. To prevent re-invasion by the fly from Uganda, all bush was cleared in a barrier zone at the western border of the sprayed area.