 |
| Tsetse fly. American Museum of Natural History. Foto: Tam Nguyen. |
Tsetse fly is determining the destiny of as many as 70,000 people affected annually by the African sleeping sickness.
African trypanosomiasis, commonly called sleeping sickness, is transmitted to humans through the
bite of an infected tsetse fly, a grey-brown insect the size of a
honey bee. The course of the disease in animals is similar to the course of sleeping sickness in humans. Following entry into a human host, the parasitic
protozoa - called trypanosomes - multiply in the blood stream and
lymph glands.
There are two distinct forms of sleeping sickness: in central and West
Africa (in the central and western regions of
Africa in forests and areas of heavy vegetation by rivers and
waterholes) the tsetse fly carries the gambiense strain, and in southern and
east Africa (in woodland and savannah areas) it transmits the rhodesiense trypanosome.
Rhodesiense causes an acute infection of the brain that emerges after a
few weeks and is easier to detect. Gambiense can infect a person for
months, or years, without symptoms while parasites multiply in the
bloodstream and lymphatic system.
Despite various drastic efforts over the past 100 years to eradicate the tsetse fly, most of the time it has recovered. In some regions of the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, in central Africa, sleeping sickness is killing more people than any other communicable disease, including HIV/Aids, says the World Health Organization.
In 2002, the deputy director of the Vienna based joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear
Techniques in Food and Agriculture claimed that this disease "is a root of poverty in
sub-Saharan Africa, a devastating problem that has been allowed to
fester because there was a perception it could not be solved, and
because it is a problem of the rural poor." Curiously, the tsetse infests 37 sub-Saharan African countries -- 32 of
them among the 42 most Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) in the
world. So the root of the problem seems to be poverty itself. We are in fact participating in a cycle of poverty-economic-apathy instead of dedicating financial investment and human resources to eliminate poverty once and for all.
A disease which had been virtually eliminated from Africa during the 1960s, has come back as a major threat to public health. Major pharmaceutical companies and US foundations are committing
funds to assist World Health Organization in combating sleeping sickness.
The current sleeping sickness epidemic in Africa began in the mid-1970s,
WHO says. Systematic screening treatment between 1940 and 1960 resulted
in the number of cases of sleeping sickness declining to almost zero.
 |
| Patients are seen in a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 (AFP/, Jose Cendon) |
Sleeping sickness could threaten tens of millions more people as the
tsetse fly which transmits the disease spreads to southern Africa as a
result of global warming (AFP)
Two days ago, a new study published on the Journal of the Royal Society Interface alerts for climate change to widen sleeping sickness risk to southern Africa. The scientists base the estimate on how the tsetse and the Trypanosoma
parasite it carries are likely to respond to rising temperatures in
coming decades. By 2090, an additional 40 to 77 million people could be at risk of
exposure to the disease, the study concludes. Currently 75 million
people live within its range.
Tsetse free zones: successful cases
In 1997 the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar was declared free of the tsetse
after conventional methods reduced its numbers and the release of
hundreds of thousands of infertile male flies into the wild --
sterilized using a nuclear technology -- clinched its success.
In
Burkina Faso in 2001, the Organization of African Unity inaugurated the
Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC),
based on the successful Zanzibar program. The
Regional Coordinator of PATTEC condirmed that it was
no accident that the concentration of much of the world's most acute
poverty is in regions of sub-Saharan Africa infested with it. "But
Zanzibar was the breakthrough. Now we know how to control it." Since the program to control and eradicate the tsetse
began, milk production has tripled, local beef production has doubled
and the number of farmers who fertilize crops with manure has multiplied
five fold. Fears that tsetse elimination would have a harmful
environmental impact on the island's biodiversity have been unfounded.
Campaign to Eliminate Tsetse Fly
In 2002 a campaign to
control the deadly tsetse fly in Africa was launched by the Organization
of
African Unity (OAU). The key was said to be political perseverance by
Africa
and securing financial support. At that time PATTEC was owing a major
debt thanks to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has
fostered its development and encouraged
the use of the sterile insect technique (SIT), in combination
with applying insecticide to the backs of cattle and setting insecticide
impregnated traps to reduce the tsetse population, in the process of
creating tsetse free zones.
Global BIG solution at last
As part of the Millennium Development Goals, the world is committed to halving the number of undernourished people
by 2015 "but without addressing the root causes of
low agricultural productivity all other efforts will fail."said the Regional Coordinator of PATTEC almost ten years ago...
Poverty
creates the conditions for the establishment of infected flies. As a consequence, much of
Africa's best land (particularly in river valleys and
moist areas, where the potential for mixed farming is good) lies
uncultivated, while tsetse free areas face collapse from overuse by
humans -- the cycle of poverty seems endless. Until when are we going to
accept such destiny? Is it out of our reach? Can we fly higher in our
thought and focus on a global economic solution in the name of Life for
every being on this planet?
There's a riddle in Africa that asks how you eat an elephant -- and the answer is in small pieces.The first BIG step for humanity at this moment is the Basic Income Grant in order to establish an equal level of dignity, opening the way for the Equal Money System which will definitely support Life for All unconditionally.
Notes
When they cross the blood-brain barrier and invade the central nervous
system, there are neurological changes that are often irreversible,
particularly for children who are often the most vulnerable to the
disease.
Treatment at this stage must follow the same path and is radical:
Melarsoprol, an arsenic and glycol compound, may cause up to ten percent
fatalities; Eflornithine, a modern alternative, requires a strict and
complex regimen of treatment that often makes it unusable.Symptoms
In West African trypanosomiasis (Trypanosoma brucei gambiense), symptoms can take months or years to appear. They include fever, rash, swelling around the eyes and hands, severe headaches, extreme fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and aching muscles and joints. If the disease is not treated at this stage, it attacks the central nervous system, producing progressive confusion, slurred speech, personality changes, seizures and difficulty in walking and talking. Symptoms progress and lead to death if left untreated.
In East African trypanosomiasis (Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense), symptoms occur 1 to 4 weeks after exposure and are the same as those listed above for the West African variety of trypanosomiasis.
Prevention and Recommendations
There is no vaccine for the prevention of African trypanosomiasis.
Protective clothing:- Wear thick clothing that reduces the amount of exposed skin, such as heavy long-sleeved shirts, long pants, socks and shoes.
- Avoid wearing bright or dark-coloured clothing as these colours attract tsetse flies.
- Sleep inside screened areas, under a net or in an air-conditioned room.
- Use bed nets that are rectangular in size, impregnated with permethrin every 6 months and tucked tightly under the mattress before dusk
- Avoid riding in the back of open vehicles as tsetse flies are attracted to dust churned up by moving vehicles or animal herds.
- Check the inside of all vehicles for tsetse flies before getting in.
- Stay away from bushy areas especially during the heat of the day. Tsetse flies rest in bushes during high heat periods and can bite if disturbed.
- Insect repellent has not been proven to prevent tsetse fly bites.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please type your message