TSETSE FLIES - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News: Tsetse
flies pheromones that can curb diseases they spread
What's in the news?
● A
new insight into how tsetse flies mate could bolster the arsenal of tools to
manage the spread of disease by these insects.
Key takeaways:
● The
insects produce volatile pheromones
that control their mating behaviour (Science).
● The
study discovered several volatile compounds that promoted rapid mating
behaviour in the tsetse flies.
● Tsetse
flies transmit trypanosomes and the
infection of female flies by trypanosomes alters both the pheromone profile and
mating behaviour, and has the effect of reducing mating receptivity in females.
Go back to basics:
● Tsetse
flies are the vectors of Sleeping
Sickness and African Animal Trypanosomosis.
Sleeping Sickness or Human African trypanosomiasis:
● It
is a vector-borne parasitic disease,
caused by infection with protozoan parasites belonging to the genus
Trypanosoma.
● Transmission:
They are transmitted to humans by tsetse fly (Glossina genus) bites which have
acquired their infection from human beings or from animals harbouring human
pathogenic parasites.
● Endemic:
The disease is currently found in 36 sub-Saharan African countries.
● According
to WHO, If untreated, the disease can become fatal.
African Animal Trypanosomosis:
● It
is caused by the parasitic protozoa trypanosomes, which are transmitted by the
bite of tsetse flies, an African blood-sucking fly.
● It
is a major livestock disease
constraining sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural production.
● There
is no vaccine, and existing drugs are becoming less effective because of the
development of resistance in parasites.
● A
human form of the disease also exists, known as human African trypanosomosis or
sleeping sickness.