The tsetsefly must die. (Africa).A new campaign to control the deadly tsetsefly (the parasitic carrier of sleeping sickness) in Africa has been launched by the OAU. Sleeping sickness affects as many as 500,000 people in Africa, 80% of whom eventually die.The fly is the carrier of the single cell parasite, trypanosome trypanosome (trĭp`ənəsōm'), microscopic, one-celled protozoan of the genus Trypanosoma, typically living as an active parasite in the bloodstream of a vertebrate; hundreds of species are known. , which attacks the blood and nervous system of its victims, causing sleeping sickness in humans and nagana nagana see trypanosomiasis. in livestock. The fly infests some 37 African countries, and its range is expanding. Scientists have been unable to develop a vaccine for humans or cattle because once in the bloodstream, trypanosomes are able to change the outer protein coat they wear into at least 1,000 variants. "But now the solution to the tsetsefly is within our reach", says John Kabayo, regional coordinator of PATTEC, based in Addis Ababa. The new campaign is drawing on the success of Zanzibar which wiped out the fly in 1997 using a sterile insect technique Sterile insect technique is a method of biological control, whereby millions of sterile insects are released. The released insects are normally male as it is the female that causes the damage, usually by laying eggs in the crop, or, in the case of mosquitoes, taking a bloodmeal (SIT) in a programme co-sponsored by the FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency International Atomic Energy Agency: see Atomic Energy Agency, International. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International organization officially founded in 1957 to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy. (IAEA IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency. ). |
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