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.

Disciplines

Animal Diseases | Entomology

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