'Tsetse' (pronounced /ts/e-/ts/e, teet-SEE, or set-see) are large
biting flies from
Africa which live by feeding on the
blood of
vertebrate animals. Tsetse include all the species in the
genus '''Glossina''', which are generally placed in their own family, 'Glossinidae'.
Tsetse have been extensively studied because they are
biological vectors of the African
trypanosomiases, deadly
diseases which include
sleeping sickness in people and
nagana in
cattle.
Tsetse are crudely similar to other large flies, such as the
housefly, but can be distinguished by four characteristics of their
anatomy, two of which are easy to observe. Tsetse fold their wings completely when they are resting so that one wing rests directly on top of the other over their
abdomen. Tsetse also have a long
proboscis which extends directly forward and is attached by a distinct bulb to the bottom of their head.
Tsetse have existed in the modern morphological form for at least 34 million years since
fossil tsetse have been recovered from the
Florissant Fossil Beds in
Colorado[1].
Biology
The biology of tsetse is relatively well understood. Tsetse have been extensively studied because of their medical, veterinary, and economic importance, because the flies can be raised in a laboratory, and because the flies are relatively large, facilitating their analysis.
Entomologists have discovered a great deal about tsetse
morphology,
anatomy,
development, and
metabolism.
Morphology
Tsetse can be seen as independent individuals in two forms: as third instar larva, as adults.
Tsetse first become separate from their mothers during the third larval instar, during which they have the typical appearance of
maggots. However, this life stage is short, lasting at most a few hours, and is almost never observed outside of the laboratory.
Tsetse next become puparia—small, hard shelled, oblongs with two distinctive, small, dark lobes at one end. Tsetse puparia are under 1.0
cm long
[2]. Within the puparial shell, tsetse complete the last two larval instars and the pupal stage.
Tsetse then emerge as adult flies. Tsetse adults are relatively large flies, with lengths of ½–1½ cm
, and have a recognizable shape or
bauplan so they can usually be distinguished without trouble from other flies. Tsetse have large heads, distinctly separated eyes, and unusual antennae. The tsetse
thorax is quite large, while the abdomen is wide rather than elongated and shorter than the wings.
Four characteristics definitively separate adult tsetse from other kinds of flies:
| 'Proboscis' | Tsetse have a distinct ''proboscis'', a long thin structure attached to the bottom of the head and pointing forward. |  A photograph of the head of a tsetse illustrating the forward pointing proboscis. |
| 'Folded wings' | When at rest, tsetse ''fold'' their wings completely one on top of the other. |  A photograph of the whole body of a tsetse illustrating the folded wings when at rest. |
| 'Hatchet cell' | The discal medial ("middle") cell of the wing has a characteristic ''hatchet'' shape resembling a meat cleaver or a hatchet. |  A photograph of the wing of a tsetse illustrating the hatchet shaped central cell. |
| 'Branched arista hairs' | The antennae have arista with hairs which are themselves ''branched''. |  A photograph and diagram of the head of a tsetse illustrating the branched hairs of the antenna's arista. |
Anatomy
Like all other
insects, tsetse flies have an adult body comprising three, visibly distinct, parts: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.
The head has large eyes, distinctly separated on each side, and a distinct, forward-pointing proboscis attached underneath by a large bulb. The thorax is large, made of three fused segments. Three pairs of legs are attached to the thorax, as are two wings and two halteres. The abdomen is short but wide and changes dramatically in volume during feeding.
The internal anatomy of tsetse is fairly typical of the
insects. The
crop is large enough to accommodate a huge increase in size during the bloodmeal since tsetse can take a bloodmeal weighing as much as themselves. The reproductive tract of adult females includes a
uterus which can become large enough to hold the third instar
larva at the end of each
pregnancy.
Most tsetse flies are physically very tough indeed. Houseflies are easily killed with a fly-swatter but it takes a great deal of effort to crush a tsetse fly.
Life cycle
Tsetse have an unusual
life cycle which may be due to the richness of their food source. Female tsetse only fertilize one egg at a time and retain each egg within their uterus to have the offspring develop internally during the first larval stages, a strategy called ''
adenotrophic viviparity''. During this time, the female feeds the developing offspring with a milky substance which is secreted by a modified gland in the uterus. In the third larval stage, the tsetse larva finally leave the uterus and begin their independent life. However, the newly independent tsetse larva simply crawls into the ground, forms a hard outer shell called the puparial case in which it completes its morphological transformation into an adult fly. This lifestage has a variable duration, generally twenty to thirty days, and the larva must rely on stored resources during this time. The importance of the richness of blood to this development can be seen since all tsetse development prior to the emergence from the puparial case as a full adult occurs without feeding based only on nutritional resources provided by the female parent. The female must obtain enough energy for her needs, for the needs of her developing offspring, and to store the resources which her offspring will require until it emerges as an adult.
Technically these insects undergo the standard
development process of insects which comprises
oocyte formation, ovulation and fertilization, development of the egg, five
larval stages, a
pupal stage, and the emergence and maturation of the adult.
Metabolism
Tsetse metabolism consists of ingesting vertebrate blood, which is called
hematophagy, and digesting this blood to obtain energy and biomass.
Tsetse have specialized cells that contain cells of ''
Wigglesworthia glossinidia brevipalpis'', the bacterial
endosymbionts that it requires for survival
[3].
An unusual aspect of tsetse metabolism is the particular pathway which tsetse use for flight which seems to be responsible for the extremely high energy output and elevated flying speeds which tsetse can achieve. Most insects, such as
honey bees, consume sugar predominantly for metabolic energy. Tsetse, instead, use a pathway which involves the conversion of the
amino acids
proline and
alanine. The result of this pathway is that tsetse can create large amounts of
ATP but can only sustain this metabolic output for short durations. Tsetse therefore fly at very high speeds (they are known to be able to follow a car moving at thirty miles an hour) but can only sustain their flight for short durations of around thirty seconds.
General biology
Tsetse has three distinct symbionts. The primary symbiont is ''Wigglesworthia'' within
bacteriocyte, the secondary symbiont is ''
Sodalis'' intercellularly or intracellularly, and the third is some kind of ''
Wolbachia''.
The tsetse ''Glossina palpalis'' is also a vector and host of ''
Hepatozoon petti'', a parasitic
Sporozoa of the
nile crocodile.
Systematics

''Glossina palpalis'' and ''G. morsitans'' from a 1920 lexicon
Tsetse include up to thirty four species and sub-species depending on the particular classification used.
Tsetse are sufficiently different in appearance and behavior to have been placed in their own distinct branch of the flies. This placement is controversial. The science of
systematics is currently struggling to reconcile the traditional form of
biological classification with the modern understanding of genomic evolution and speciation. The controversy surrounding the placement of tsetse is therefore likely to continue into the future.
All current classifications place all the tsetse species in a single genus named ''
Glossina''. Most classifications place this genus as the sole member of the family
Glossinidae. The Glossinidae are generally placed within the superfamily
Hippoboscoidea, which contains other
hematophagous families. This superfamily is in the subsection
Calyptratae which includes the
housefly and the
blowfly due to the similarity of their developmental biology. This infraorder in turn, is part of the sub-order
Brachycera, the stubby flies with reduced antenna.
Species
The tsetse genus is generally split into three different groups of species based on a combination of distributional, behavioral, and morphological characteristics. The genus includes
[4][5]:
★ The ''savannah'' flies: (Subgenus ''Morsitans'', occasionally named ''Glossina''):
★
★ ''Glossina austeni''
(Newstead, 1912)
★
★ ''Glossina longipalpis''
(Wiedemann, 1830)
★
★ ''Glossina morsitans centralis''
(Machado, 1970)
★
★ ''Glossina morsitans morsitans''
(Wiedemann, 1850)
★
★ ''Glossina morsitans submorsitans''
(Newstead, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina pallidipes''
(Austen, 1903)
★
★ ''Glossina swynnertoni''
(Austen, 1923)
★ The ''forest'' flies: (Subgenus ''Fusca'', previously named ''Austenia''):
★
★ ''Glossina brevipalpis''
(Newstead, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina fusca congolensis''
(Newstead and Evans, 1921)
★
★ ''Glossina fusca fusca''
(Walker, 1849)
★
★ ''Glossina fuscipleuris''
(Austen, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina frezili''
(Gouteux, 1987)[6]
★
★ ''Glossina haningtoni''
(Newstead and Evans, 1922)
★
★ ''Glossina longipennis''
(Corti, 1895)
★
★ ''Glossina medicorum''
(Austen, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina nashi''
(Potts,1955)
★
★ ''Glossina nigrofusca hopkinsi''
(Van Emden, 1944)
★
★ ''Glossina nigrofusca nigrofusca''
(Newstead, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina severini''
(Newstead, 1913)
★
★ ''Glossina schwetzi''
(Newstead and Evans, 1921)
★
★ ''Glossina tabaniformis''
(Westwood, 1850)
★
★ ''Glossina vanhoofi''
(Henrard, 1952)
★ The ''riverine'' flies: (Sub-genus ''Palpalis'', previously named ''Nemorhina''):
★
★ ''Glossina caliginea''
(Austen, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina fuscipes fuscipes''
(Newstead, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina fuscipes martinii''
(Zumpt, 1935)
★
★ ''Glossina fuscipes quanzensis''
(Pires, 1948)
★
★ ''Glossina pallicera pallicera''
(Bigot, 1891)
★
★ ''Glossina pallicera newsteadi''
(Austen, 1929)
★
★ ''Glossina palpalis palpalis''
(Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830)
★
★ ''Glossina palpalis gambiensis''
(Vanderplank, 1911)
★
★ ''Glossina tachinoides''
(Westwood, 1850)
Trypanosomiasis
Tsetse are
biological vectors of
trypanosomes meaning that tsetse, in the process of feeding, acquire and then transmit small, single-celled organisms called
trypanosomes from
infected vertebrate hosts to uninfected animals. Some tsetse transmitted trypanosome species cause
trypanosomiasis, an infectious disease. In humans, tsetse transmitted trypanosomiasis is called
sleeping sickness. In animals, tsetse vectored trypanosomiases include
nagana,
souma, and
surra according to the animal infected and the trypanosome species involved, although the usage is not strict and ''nagana'' is occasionally used for any form of animal trypanosomiasis.
Trypanosomes are
animal parasites, specifically
protozoa of the genus
''Trypanosoma''. These organisms are approximately the size of red blood cells. Different species of trypanosomes infect different hosts as can be seen in the table attached to this section. Trypanosomes range widely in their effects on the vertebrate hosts. Some species, such as ''Trypanosoma theileri'', do not seem to cause any health problems except perhaps in animals which are already quite sick
[7].
Some
strains are much more
virulent. Tsetse seem to be unaffected by the infection of trypanosomes but it is entirely possible that the parasites alter tsetse behavior or have other effects which improve the chances of transmission and survival. These trypanosomes have become highly evolved and developed a life cycle which requires periods in both the vertebrate and tsetse hosts.
Tsetse transmit trypanosomes in two ways, ''mechanical'' and ''biological'' transmission.
★ Mechanical transmission involves the direct transmission of the same individual trypanosomes taken from an infected host into an uninfected host. The name ''mechanical'' reflects the similarity of this mode of transmission to the transmission which could be caused mechanically with a
syringe. Mechanical transmission requires that tsetse feed on an infected host and acquire trypanosomes in the bloodmeal, and then, within in a relatively short period, for tsetse to feed on an uninfected host and regurgitate some of the infected blood from the first bloodmeal into the tissue of the uninfected animal. This type of transmission occurs most frequently when tsetse are interrupted during a bloodmeal and attempt to satiate themselves with another meal. Other flies, such as
horse-flies, also can cause mechanical transmission of trypanosomes
[8].
★ Biological transmission requires a period of incubation of the trypanosomes within the tsetse host. The term ''biological'' is used because trypanosomes must reproduce through several generations inside the tsetse host during the period of incubation, which requires extreme
adaptation of the trypanosomes to their tsetse host. In this mode of transmission, trypanosomes reproduce through several generations, changing in morphology at certain periods. This mode of transmission also includes the sexual phase of the trypanosomes. Tsetse are believed to be more likely to become infected by trypanosomes during their first few bloodmeals. Tsetse infected by trypanosomes are thought to remain infected for the remainder of their lives. Because of the adaptations required for biological transmission, trypanosomes which are transmitted biologically by tsetse cannot be transmitted in this manner by other insects.
The relative importance of these two modes of transmission for the propagation of tsetse-vectored trypanosomiases is not yet well understood. However, since the sexual phase of the trypanosome lifecycle occurs within the tsetse host, biological transmission is a required step in the life cycle of the tsetse vectored trypanosomes.
The cycle of biological transmission of trypanosomiasis involves two phases, one inside the tsetse host and the other inside the vertebrate host. Trypanosomes are not passed between a pregnant tsetse and her offspring so all newly emerged tsetse adults are free of infection. An uninfected fly which feeds upon an infected vertebrate animal may acquire trypanosomes in its proboscis or gut. These trypanosomes, depending on the species, may remain in place, move to a different part of the digestive tract, or migrate through the tsetse body into the salivary glands. When an infected tsetse bites a susceptible host, the fly may regurgitate part of a previous bloodmeal which contains trypanosomes or may inject trypanosomes contained within its saliva. It is believed that the inoculation must contain a minimum of 300 to 450 individual trypanosomes to be successful, and may contain up to 40,000 individuals
.
The trypanosomes are injected into vertebrate muscle tissue but make their way, first into the
lymphatic system, then into the bloodstream, and eventually into the brain. The disease causes the swelling of the lymph glands, emaciation of the body, and eventually leads to death. Uninfected tsetse may bite the infected animal prior to its death and acquire the disease, thereby closing the transmission cycle.
The tsetse vectored trypanosomiases affect various vertebrate species including humans, antelopes, bovine cattle, camels, horses, sheep, goats, and pigs. These diseases are caused by several different trypanosome species which may also survive in wild animals such as crocodiles and monitor lizards. The diseases have different distributions across the African continent and are therefore transmitted by different species of tsetse. The following table summarizes this information
[9]:
| Disease | Species affected | ''Trypanosoma'' agents | Distribution | ''Glossina'' vectors |
|---|
| 'Sleeping sickness' — chronic form | humans | ''T. brucei gambiense'' | Western Africa | ''G. palpalis'' ''G. tachinoides'' ''G. fuscipes'' ''G. morsitans'' |
| 'Sleeping sickness' — acute form | humans | ''T. brucei rhodesiense'' | Eastern Africa | ''G. morsitans'' ''G. swynnertoni'' ''G. pallidipes'' ''G. fuscipes'' |
| 'Nagana' — acute form | antelope cattle camels horses | ''T. brucei brucei'' | Africa | ''G. morsitans'' ''G. swynnertoni'' ''G. pallidipes'' ''G. palpalis'' ''G. tachinoides'' ''G. fuscipes'' |
| 'Nagana' — chronic form | cattle camels horses | ''T. congolense'' | Africa | ''G. palpalis'' ''G. morsitans'' ''G. austeni'' ''G. swynnertoni'' ''G. pallidipes'' ''G. longipalpis'' ''G. tachinoides'' ''G. brevipalpis'' |
| 'Nagana' — acute form | domestic pigs cattle camels horses | ''T. simiae'' | Africa | ''G. palpalis'' ''G. fuscipes'' ''G. morsitans'' ''G. tachinoides'' ''G. longipalpis'' ''G. fusca'' ''G. tabaniformis'' ''G. brevipalpis'' ''G. vanhoofi'' ''G. austeni'' |
| 'Nagana' — acute form | cattle camels horses | ''T. vivax'' | Africa | ''G. morsitans'' ''G. palpalis'' ''G. tachinoides'' ''G. swynnertoni'' ''G. pallidipes'' ''G. austeni'' ''G. vanhoofi'' ''G. longipalpis'' |
| 'Surra' — chronic form | domestic pigs warthog (''Phacochoerus aethiopicus'') forest hogs (''Hylochoerus spp.'') | ''T. suis'' | Africa | ''G. palpalis'' ''G. fuscipes'' ''G. morsitans'' ''G. tachinoides'' ''G. longipalpis'' ''G. fusca'' ''G. tabaniformis'' ''G. brevipalpis'' ''G. vanhoofi'' ''G. austeni'' |
Human trypanosomiasis
Main articles: sleeping sickness
Human African trypanosomiasis, also called
sleeping sickness, is caused by trypanosomes of the ''Trypanosoma brucei'' species. This disease is invariably fatal unless treated but can almost always be cured with current medicines, if the disease is diagnosed early enough.
Sleeping sickness begins with a tsetse bite leading to an inoculation in the sub-cutaneous tissue. The infection moves into the
lymphatic system leading to a characteristic swelling of the lymph glands which is called ''Winterbottoms's sign''. The infection progresses into the blood stream and eventually crosses into the
central nervous system and invades the
brain leading to extreme lethargy and eventually to death.
The ''Trypanosoma brucei'' species, which causes the disease, has often been subdivided into three sub-genera which were identified based either on the vertebrate hosts which the strain could infect or on the virulence of the disease in humans. The trypanosomes infectious to animals and not to humans were named ''Trypanosoma brucei brucei''. The strains which infected humans were divided into two sub-species based on their different virulences: ''Trypanosoma brucei gambiense'' was thought to have a slower onset and ''Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense'' refers to strains with a more rapid, virulent onset. This characterization has always been problematic but was the best that could be done given the knowledge of the time and the tools available for identification. A recent molecular study using
restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis suggests that the three sub-genera are
polyphyletic [10], so the elucidation of the strains of ''T. brucei'' infective to humans will require a more complex explanation.
Other forms of human trypanosomiasis also exist but are not transmitted by tsetse. The most notable is American trypanosomiasis, known as
Chagas disease, which occurs in
South America, caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi'', and transmitted by certain species of the
Reduviidae, members of the
Hemiptera.
Animal trypanosomiasis
Animal
trypanosomiasis, also called ''nagana'' when it occurs in
bovine cattle or
horses or ''sura'' when it occurs in domestic
pigs, is caused by several trypanosome species. These
diseases reduce the
growth rate,
milk productivity, and strength of
farm animals, generally leading to the eventually
death of the infected animals. Certain species of cattle are called ''trypanotolerant'' because they can survive and grow even when infected with trypanosomes although they also have lower productivity rates when infected.
The course of the disease in animals is similar to the course of
sleeping sickness in humans.
''Trypanosoma congolense'' and ''Trypanosoma vivax'' are the two most important species infecting bovine cattle in
sub-saharan Africa. ''Trypanosoma simiae'' causes a virulent disease in
swine.
Other forms of animal trypanosomiasis are also known from other areas of the globe, caused by different species of trypanosomes and transmitted without the intervention of the tsetse fly.
Tsetse vector ranges mostly in the central part of Africa.
Control
Tsetse control has been undertaken in order to reduce the incidence of the diseases which the flies transmit. Two alternative strategies have been used in the attempts to reduce the African trypanosomiases. One tactic is primarily medical or veterinary and targets the disease directly using monitoring, prophylaxis, treatment, and surveillance to reduce the number of organisms which carry the disease. The second strategy is generally entomological and intends to disrupt the cycle of transmission by reducing the number of flies.
The idea of tsetse control implies a change in the relationship between people and these insects. Prior to the twentieth century, people in Africa had largely adapted to the presence of tsetse. Human settlement patterns and agricultural practices had adapted to the presence of the fly. For example, in Ethiopia draft powered farming was restricted to the highland areas where the flies were absent whereas lowland areas where tsetse are present were more sparsely populated by people living a nomadic, less agriculturally intensive lifestyle. Tsetse control is a response to changing conditions. Tsetse control has been proposed as a way of reducing the incidence of the disease in the populations living in tsetse regions, of allowing the expansion of human settlement and agriculture into new areas, and of helping people previously relocated either in forced transfers or due to migration.
Tsetse control efforts have been undertaken throughout the African continent but long-term, sustainable control has rarely been achieved. Tsetse control efforts invariably are tied to the complex problems of poverty, heath, politics, and violence which have proved such a disaster for the African people.
The reduction of fly numbers has generally been attempted with two different aims, either eradication which intends to completely eliminate tsetse from the area or control which aims simply to reduce the numbers. Eradication is an idea which has often been imagined, has repeatedly been attempted, and is still proposed but many reasons suggest that control is a safer, cheaper, more realistic, and sustainable approach. Eradication refers to the successful killing of every tsetse either in a region or, under more grandiose proposals, from the entire African continent. Local eradication efforts have repeatedly been undertaken and have achieved temporary success only to fail in the long term because tsetse were able to re-invade (Zanzibar).
All of the economic, ecological, political, and environmental justifications for eradication have been called into question. The economic justification for eradication offsets the immense costs of the eradication campaign against the medical and veterinary benefits which are considered to accrue in perpetuity.
However, eradication campaigns may have unintended social consequences, as a successful campaign may open up lands for agriculture which have previously been populated by nomadic hunters, resulting in the displacement of the original population with its attendant consequences.
Control techniques
Many techniques have been used to reduce tsetse populations with earlier crude methods being replaced in more recent times by methods which are cheaper, more directed, and ecologically better considered.
Slaughter of wild animals
One early technique involved the slaughter of all the wild animals on which tsetse fed. For example, the island of Principé off the west coast of Africa, was entirely cleared of feral pigs in the 1930s which led to the extirpation of the fly. While the fly eventually re-invaded in the 1950s, the new population of tsetse was free from the disease.
Land clearing
Another early technique involved the complete removal of any brush or woody vegetation from an area. Tsetse tend to rest on the trunks of trees so the removal of woody vegetation made the area inhospitable to the flies. However, the technique has not been widely used and has been abandoned in more recent times. Preventing the regrowth of woody vegetation requires continuous clearing efforts which is only practicable where large human populations are present. The clearing of woody vegetation has come to be seen as an environmental problem more than a benefit.
Pesticide campaigns
Pesticides have been used to control tsetse starting initially during the early part of the twentieth century in localized efforts using the inorganic metal based pesticides, expanding after the Second World war into massive aerial and ground based campaigns using the early organic pesticides such as
DDT, and continuing with the targeted use of ''pour-ons'' in which advanced organic pesticides are applied directly to the backs of cattle.
Trapping

Tsetse trap
Tsetse populations can be monitored and effectively controlled using simple, inexpensive traps. These often use electric blue cloth, since this colour attracts the flies. Early traps mimicked the form of cattle but this seems unnecessary and recent traps are simple sheets or have a biconical form. The traps can kill by channeling the flies into a collection chamber or by exposing the flies to insecticide sprayed on the cloth.
The use of chemicals as attractants to lure tsetse to the traps has been studied extensively in the late 20th century, but this has mostly been of interest to scientists rather than as an economically reasonable solution. The attractants studied have been those which might be used by tsetse to find their food, like carbon dioxide and acetone, which are given off in the animals' breath and distributed downwind to form an 'odour plume'. Synthetic versions of these chemicals can be used to create artificial odour plumes. A cheaper approach is to place some cattle urine in a half gourd near the trap. For large trapping efforts, the use of additional traps is generally cheaper than the use of expensive artificial attractants.
A special trapping method is applied in Ethiopia, where the BioFarm Consortium (ICIPE, BioVision Foundation, BEA, Helvetas, DLCO-EA, Praxis Ethiopia) applies the traps in a sustainable agriculture and rural development context (SARD). The traps are just the entry point, followed by improved farming, human health and marketing inputs. This method is in the final stage of testing (as per 2006).
Releases of irradiated males
The
sterile insect technique has been used to reduce tsetse populations. This technique involves the rearing of large numbers of tsetse, separation of the males,
irradiation of these flies with large doses of gamma rays to make them sterile and then release into to the wild. Since females only mate a few times in their life, generally only once, any mating with a sterile male will prevent that female from giving birth to any offspring.
The Sterile Insect Technique has recently been used on
Zanzibar, an island off the coast of
East Africa. Like other eradication efforts, early indications are that the fly numbers have been decimated with the fly possibly extirpated (locally eradicated) from the island. A number of traps are in place to monitor the island and repress any resurgence.
Additionally, using the parasite refractory strains is another method to control the tsetse, that means providing the blood meal containing the trypanocide before release the steriled males. Also we can consider to use the cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) strategy to control the population of tsetse. With the development of genetic engineering, the releasing of engineered parasite refractory counterparts is another strategy to control the population of tsetse.
Etymology
The word 'tsetse' comes from
Tswana, a language of southern Africa, and, in that language, the word means fly
[11]. Recently 'tsetse' without the 'fly' has become more common in
English, particularly in the scientific and development communities.
The pronunuciation of the word differs in different regions. Many
African languages have an
ejective ''ts'' sound and so a common pronunciation of the word involves two identical syllables both having this ''ts'' sound and a shorter sound of the vowel, as ''ts-eh-ts-eh''. The British pronunciation of the word uses two different sounds for the two different syllables, generally ''tee-tsee''. In Zimbabwe, it is generally pronounced ''tseh-tsee''.
See also
★
David Bruce (microbiologist)
★ "Tsetse" was a nickname applied to the
De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk XVIII aircraft
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Medical Insects and Arachnids, A. M. Jordan, , , Chapman and Hall, 1993, ISBN 0-41-240000-6
6. Une nouvelle glossine du Congo: ''Glossina'' (''Austenina'') ''frezili'' sp. nov. (Diptera: Glossinidae), J. P. Gouteux, , , Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 1987
7. The African Trypanosomiases, C. A. Hoare, , , London, UK: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1970, ISBN 0-04-614001-8
8. Seasonal prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis in a tsetse-infested zone and a tsetse-free zone of the Amhara Region, north-west Ethiopia, T. Cherenet, R. A. Sani, J. M. Panandam, S. Nadzr, N. Speybroeck, P. van den Bossche, , , Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 2004
9. Trypanosomiasis page, "Microbiology and Immunology On-line" R. C. Hunt
10.
11.
External links
★
Programmes and information to assist in the planning and implementation of tsetse control operations
★
Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis
★
PAN AFRICAN TSETSE AND TRYPANOSOMIASIS ERADICATION CAMPAIGN (PATTEC)
★
Leverhulme Trust Tsetse Research Network (LTTRN)
Resources
Fiction
★ "Winged Death" by H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald (1933). Gothic horror on the malevolent use of trypanosome
★ Neil Gaiman's Sandman series started by using the sleeping sickness as a subplot(The Sandman #1, Sleep of the Just, Vertigo, 1988).
Scientific books on tsetse and trypanosomiasis
★ Buxton, P. (1955) ''The Natural History of Tsetse Flies: An Account of the Biology of the Genus Glossina (Diptera).'' London, UK: H.K. Lewis & Co.
★ Glascow, J. (1963) ''The Distribution and Abundance of Tsetse'' International Series of Monographs on Pure and Applied Biology, No. 20. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
★ Mulligan, H. & Potts, W. (1970) ''The Afrian Trypanosomiases'' London, UK: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.
★ Ford, J. (1971) ''The Role of the Trypanosomiases in African Ecology.'' Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
★ Leak, S. (1998) ''Tsetse Biology and Ecology: Their role in the Epidemiology and Control of Trypanosomiasis.'' New York, NY, USA: CABI Publishing.
book site
★ McKelvey Jr., J. (1973) ''Man Against Tsetse: Struggle for Africa.'' Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University Press.