Tsetse flies

About Tsetse flies:

• Tsetse flies (genus Glossina) are unicellular blood-sucking insects.
• They are holometaboulos insects, females giving birth to full-grown larvae which rapidly pupate in the soil.
• They are arranged taxonomically and ecologically into three groups: the fusca, or forest, group (subgenus Austenina); the morsitans, or savanna, group (subgenus Glossina); and the palpalis, or riverine, group (subgenus Nemorhina). 
• Habitat:
  • They are found in local patches of dense vegetation along banks of rivers.
  • Also found in lakes in arid terrain, and also in dense, wet, heavily forested equatorial rainforest
• They feed on blood and transmit the Trypanosoma parasites, which are responsible for sleeping sickness in humans and animal trypanosomosis or “Nagana” in cattle.
• They are also linked to nagana in African livestock, resulting in annual agricultural losses estimated in the billions of dollars.
• The collected data confirmed the presence of Glossina species in 34 countries, ranging from Northern Senegal (around 15 degrees north) to South Africa (Kwazulu-Natal province at 28.5 degrees south). 

Q1: What is Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT)?

Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is also known as sleeping sickness. It is caused by protozoan parasites transmitted by infected tsetse flies and endemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: Tsetse fly present in 34 countries in Africa, confirms FAO atlas

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