Completion of monthly monitoring of trypanosome infections in tsetse flies

December 1st, 2015

Between July 2014 and November 2015, trypanosome infections in tsetse flies were monitored on a monthly basis. This was done using molecular techniques. To date we have found only animal-infective trypanosome species (Typanosome congolense; T. brucei and T. vivax), which confirms low to zero prevalence of human-infective species in our study area within the Maasai Steppe. An advanced nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and species-specific primers are now being used to confirm the trypanosome prevalence in tsetse flies. This work is ongoing.