Human African trypanosomiasis research gets a boost: unraveling the tsetse genome

Publication Type

Journal Article

Journal Name

PLoS neglected tropical diseases

Name of Author

Serap Aksoy, Yale School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
Geoffrey Attardo, Yale School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
Matt Berriman, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus Hinxton, United Kingdom.
Alan Christoffels, South African National Bioinformatics Institute, MRC Bioinformatics Unit, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
Mike Lehane, Vector Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Dan Masiga, Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics Unit, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya.
Yeya Toure, Vector, Environment and Society Unit, Tropical Diseases Research (TDR), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

Publication Date

4-1-2014

Abstract

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, is a neglected disease that impacts 70 million people distributed over 1.55 million km2 in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Trypanosoma brucei gambiense accounts for almost 90% of the infections in central and western Africa, the remaining infections being from T. b. rhodesiense in eastern Africa [1]. Furthermore, the animal diseases caused by related parasites inflict major economic losses to countries already strained [2]. The parasites are transmitted to the mammalian hosts through the bite of an infected tsetse fly.

Recommended Citation

Aksoy, S., Attardo, G., Berriman, M., Christoffels, A., Lehane, M., Masiga, D., & Toure, Y. (2014). Human African trypanosomiasis research gets a boost: unraveling the tsetse genome. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 8 (4), e2624. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002624