Tsetse flytraps: Biotechnology for Africa's rural population
Monday, June 22, 2020 - 11:50
in Biology & Nature
The tsetse fly occurs in large regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The flies feed on human and animal blood, transmitting trypanosoma in the process—small, single-cell organisms that use the flies as intermediate host and cause a dangerous inflammation of the lymph and nervous system in both animals and humans. There is no vaccination for this sleeping sickness; untreated, it usually ends in death. In agriculture, particularly cattle breeding, sleeping sickness—or trypanosomiasis—causes enormous damage in the form of sick and dead animals.