We used an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) using specific anti-sera against various animals to determine the feeding preferences and the human blood index of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes in relation to the epidemiology of trypanosomosis in the sleeping sickness focus of Kamuli district, and probably the entire South Eeastern Uganda where conclusive information on the species-specific host preferences still lacked. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with TBR1 and TBR2 primers was used to analyze the trypanosome species present in the same tsetse blood meal samples. Out of the 150-tsetse blood meal samples tested against bovine, monitor lizard, human, and pig; and 58 on goat and sheep, 60 and 45 samples against chicken and dog anti-sera respectively, 73 samples (48.6%) had their blood meal sources identified. Of the identified, 50.1% (n=37) of the blood meals came from cattle; 30.1% (n=22), 16.4% n=12 and 2.8% n=2 came from monitor lizards (Varanus niloticus), humans and domestic pigs respectively. Of the 60 blood meals analyzed by the PCR, 16.7% were positive for T.brucei s.l, and of these 20.6% and 18.8% sourced from cattle and humans respectively tested positive for T.brucei s.l. None of the blood meal samples sourced from monitor lizards and pigs tested positive for T.brucei s.l. These results are in agreement with earlier findings and confirm the cow-fly-human transmission cycle of trypanosomosis and the role cattle play as reservoirs of human-infective trypanosomes in this sleeping sickness endemic area.
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