Comparative study on the susceptibility of different Glossina species to Trypanosoma brucei brucei infection.

Teneral Glossina morsitans centralis, G. austeni, G. palpalis palpalis, G. p. gambiensis, G. fuscipes fuscipes, G. tachinoides and G. brevipalpis from laboratory-bred colonies, were allowed to feed simultaneously for 34 days on the flanks of ten goats infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei isolated in Tanzania or in Nigeria, and then the tsetse were dissected. The seven tsetse species and subspecies showed salivary glands infections over the range of 0% to 40.4%. Survival of the Tanzanian and Nigerian T.b. brucei was best in G. m. centralis and very poor in the other tsetse species. It is suggested that there are differences in the gut of different laboratory-bred Glossina species and subspecies allowing T. b. brucei parasites to survive better and undergo the complete developmental cycle more readily in some species than in others.