Trypanosoma congolense in various species of horse flies (Diptera : Tabanidae) in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Four out of six Azawak zebu bulls raised in northern Burkina Faso were found to be infected with trypanosomes, including Trypanosoma congolense, six months after they had been transferred, uninfected, to the CIRDES experimental farm at Banankélédaga (Southwest Burkina Faso). Entomological surveys are carried out regularly in the area around this farm but, in one year, only 10 tsetse flies were captured, none of which showed infection in the midgut. However, a large number of tabanids were captured in the Glossina traps and dissection of some of them showed the presence of trypanosomes in their midgut. DNA amplification with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique showed that the trypanosomes found in two tabanids belonged to the Savannah type of T. congolense.