Sleeping Sickness Survey ill the Serengeti Area (Tanzania) 1971

Abstract

The paper reports an epidemiological survey of populations of Glossina swynertoni in the Serengeli National Park. Tsetse flies were sampled from different areas supporting different densities of flies, and their infection rates were determined by dissection. Although, as in a previous survey, no mature T. brucei subgroup infections were encountered, it appeared that the T. vivax subgroup infection rate was highest in areas of high tsetse density. Infection rate figures are analyzed to show that, as previously found during laboratory studies, not all infected blood meals eventually give rise to mature trypanosome infections in the flies. The feeding conditions of populations of flies in the study areas were assessed, and the differences are explained in terms of food availability. The importance is stressed, of considering both the feeding preferences of the flies and the natural incidence of trypanosome infections in the wild game, in assessing the reservoir potential of any particular game species. In addition to the work on tsetse, a few Hippobosca longipenni; Fabricius were collected from darted lions and hyaenas. From over 200 dissected non carried live trypanosomes.