Sleeping sickness has been a problem for the communities living in Eastern Uganda since the beginning of the 20th century and recent work has implicated some domestic animals as reservoirs for the zoonotic type of sleeping sickness. Similarly, a high prevalence of trypanosomosis among domesticated pigs in some sleeping sickness endemic areas of south-eastern Uganda has been recorded. About 30% of pigs have bben reported to have Trypanosoma brucei sl which is infective to humans. In this study, the parasites isolated from pigs in the study area have been confirmed to carry the human serum resistance associated gene. Pigs in the sleeping sickness endemic areas of south-eastern Uganda are mainly tethered around homesteads especially in cool sheds like those provided by Lantana camara which is an ideal habitat for Glosina fuscipes fuscipes. The spatial distribution of pigs in the villages surveyed show uniform distribution of pigs in the village. A Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infected pigs become a risk to anyone within the village. Since pigs rarely receive trypanocidal therapy, it therefore becomes necessary to put interventions that will halt the build up of T. b. rhodesience infections in the pig population. In addition, it is important to include domestic pigs on the list of animals to be treated against trypanosomosis as an integrated strategy to reduce their role as reservoirs for the zoonotic T. b. rhodesiense sleeping sickness.
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.