African trypanosomiasis (AT) is a family of parasitic conditions affecting both humans and livestock, impairing development in sub-Saharan Africa, throughout the 10 million-km2 habitat zone of the common vector, Glossina spp. According to the WHO'S estimations (2), 300,000 to 500,000 people are affected by AT and annual economic losses due to animal AT are about Dollars 4.5 billion (U.S. dollars). AT also represents an economic constraint in other parts of the world, despite the absence of tsetse flies in these other locations. Some AT-related Trypanosoma species are indeed adapted to mechanical transmission, which does not require any biological cycle to be completed in the vector and thus allows transmission by non-tsetse blood-feeding flies. In the quest to control AT, various control methods have been developed, although chemotherapy still represents the principal one. Because of the ongoing dissemination of trypanocide-resistant trypanosome strains, the research for alternative control methods has been intensified.
展开▼
