DairyPost Africa • May 2014
41
swat
Experts aim to
dreaded
tsetse fly
New research at International Centre of
Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya raises
hope of eradicating the tsetse fly malady
A
n international team of scientists has
deciphered the genetic code of the
tsetse fly, the bloodsucking insect that
spreads deadly African sleeping sickness,
with the hope that its biological secrets can
be exploited to eradicate this malady.
The findings were the culmination of a
multimillion dollar, decade-long effort
involving more than 140 scientists from 78
research institutions in 18 countries.
The fly’s bite carries a parasitic
microorganism that causes sleeping sickness
in people in sub-Saharan Africa and a form
of the disease in animals that can devastate
livestock herds.
Sequencing the tsetse fly’s genome exposed
the molecular underpinnings of its weird
biology: it gives live birth to young rather
than laying eggs like other insects;
it nourishes larvae inside the uterus
with a form of milk; it is oddly
attracted to the colors blue and
black; and it feeds exclusively on
blood.
The scientists expressed optimism that the
genetic blueprint could lead to new ways
to combat the tsetse fly like a chemical that
could interfere with its reproduction or ways
to improve existing traps used to kill it.
“Like any such discoveries, there will be
new leads that we might not see now.
I am, however, optimistic that unique
aspects of tsetse fly biology will lead to new
methods to fight the disease,” said one of
the researchers, Daniel Masiga, a molecular
biologist at the International Centre of
Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in
Kenya.
“If you could come up with a tsetsespecific reproductive inhibitor that has no
mammalian toxicity, that would be ideal,”
added biologist Geoffrey
Attardo of the Yale School of
Public Health, another of the
researchers.