Beyond Tsetse - Implications for research and control of Human African Trypanosomiasis epidemics

Abstract

Epidemics of both forms of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) are confined to spatially stable foci in Sub-Saharan Africa while tsetse distribution is widespread. Infection rates of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in tsetse are extremely low and cannot account for the catastrophic epidemics of Gambian HAT (gHAT) seen over the past century. We examine the origins of gHAT epidemics and evidence implicating human genetics in HAT epidemiology