Differential virulence and tsetse fly transmissibility of Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei strains

Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Differential virulence and tsetse fly transmissibility of Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei strains
 
Creator Gitonga, Purity K. Ndung’u, Kariuki Murilla, Grace A. Thande, Paul C. Wamwiri, Florence N. Auma, Joanna E. Ngae, Geoffrey N. Kibugu, James K. Kurgat, Richard Thuita, John K.
 
Subject — Trypanosoma brucei; Trypanosoma congolense; mice; virulence and tsetse infectivity
Description African animal trypanosomiasis causes significant economic losses in sub-Saharan African countries because of livestock mortalities and reduced productivity. Trypanosomes, the causative agents, are transmitted by tsetse flies (Glossina spp.). In the current study, we compared and contrasted the virulence characteristics of five Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei isolates using groups of Swiss white mice (n = 6). We further determined the vectorial capacity of Glossina pallidipes, for each of the trypanosome isolates. Results showed that the overall pre-patent (PP) periods were 8.4 ± 0.9 (range, 4–11) and 4.5 ± 0.2 (range, 4–6) for T. congolense and T. brucei isolates, respectively (p 0.01). Despite the longer mean PP, T. congolense–infected mice exhibited a significantly (p 0.05) shorter survival time than T. brucei–infected mice, indicating greater virulence. Differences were also noted among the individual isolates with T. congolense KETRI 2909 causing the most acute infection of the entire group with a mean ± standard error survival time of 9 ± 2.1 days. Survival time of infected tsetse flies and the proportion with mature infections at 30 days post-exposure to the infective blood meals varied among isolates, with subacute infection–causing T. congolense EATRO 1829 and chronic infection–causing T. brucei EATRO 2267 isolates showing the highest mature infection rates of 38.5% and 23.1%, respectively. Therefore, our study provides further evidence of occurrence of differences in virulence and transmissibility of eastern African trypanosome strains and has identified two, T. congolense EATRO 1829 and T. brucei EATRO 2267, as suitable for tsetse infectivity and transmissibility experiments.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Government of Kenya
Date 2017-06-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ojvr.v84i1.1412
 
Source Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research; Vol 84, No 1 (2017); 10 pages 2219-0635 0030-2465
 
Language eng
 
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https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1412/1659 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1412/1658 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1412/1660 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1412/1655
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Purity K. Gitonga, Kariuki Ndung’u, Grace A. Murilla, Paul C. Thande, Florence N. Wamwiri, Joanna E. Auma, Geoffrey N. Ngae, James K. Kibugu, Richard Kurgat, John K. Thuita https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
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