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Showing papers by "Sophie Ravel published in 2012"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In order to stop T. b.
Abstract: Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) in West Africa is a lethal, neglected disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense transmitted by the tsetse Glossina palpalis gambiensis. Although the littoral part of Guinea with its typical mangrove habitat is the most prevalent area in West Africa, very few data are available on the epidemiology of the disease in such biotopes. As part of a HAT elimination project in Guinea, we carried a cross-sectional study of the distribution and abundance of people, livestock, tsetse and trypanosomes in the focus of Boffa. An exhaustive census of the human population was done, together with spatial mapping of the area. Entomological data were collected, a human medical survey was organized together with a survey in domestic animals. In total, 45 HAT cases were detected out of 14445 people who attended the survey, these latter representing 50.9% of the total population. Potential additional carriers of T. b. gambiense were also identified by the trypanolysis test (14 human subjects and two domestic animals). No trypanosome pathogenic to animals were found, neither in the 874 tsetse dissected nor in the 300 domestic animals sampled. High densities of tsetse were found in places frequented by humans, such as pirogue jetties, narrow mangrove channels and watering points. The prevalence of T. b. gambiense in humans, combined to low attendance of the population at risk to medical surveys, and to an additional proportion of human and animal carriers of T. b. gambiense who are not treated, highlights the limits of strategies targeting HAT patients only. In order to stop T. b. gambiense transmission, vector control should be added to the current strategy of case detection and treatment. Such an integrated strategy will combine medical surveillance to find and treat cases, and vector control activities to protect people from the infective bites of tsetse.

45 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A successful control of tsetse in Abidjan would require the three Abidjon sites to be considered together, either by deploying control measures simultaneously in all three sites, or by a continuous progression of interventions following for instance the "rolling carpet" principle.
Abstract: Background Sleeping sickness, transmitted by G. p. palpalis, is known to be present in the Ivory Coast. G. p. palpalis has recently been reported to occur in several places within the town of Abidjan, including: (i) the Banco forest, (ii) the Abobo Adjame University campus and (iii) the zoological park. Could these three places be treated sequentially, as separate tsetse populations, or should they be taken as one area comprising a single, panmictic population?

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Aug 2012-Parasite
TL;DR: The morphological features of the parasite on Giemsa-stained smears are described, including the first description of such a form of T. congolense forest-type, and the shape of the cytoplasm appears to be tightened by an “S-” or “C-’ shaped flagellum.
Abstract: Trypanosoma congolense forest-type was identified by PCR in France, in a dog returning from Senegal. This paper describes the morphological features of the parasite on Giemsa-stained smears. Slender forms and "latent bodies" represent 30.4% and 20.4%, respectively. Some rosettes have been observed (0.8%). The predominant form (48.4%) is stumpy, close to "montgomeryi-form", but it is unusually broad, with a width/length ratio (WLr) of 0.40-0.55, while that of "montgomeryi-forms" is close to 0.3. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of such a form of T. (Nannomonas). Also unusual, the shape of the cytoplasm appears to be tightened by an "S-" or "C-" shaped flagellum. We propose naming this peculiar morphotype "hyperpachymorph", and adding its description to that of T. congolense forest-type. Thus T. (Nannomonas) forms would include: sphaeromorph or "latent body-form" (globular), hyperleptomorph (rodhaini-form, very long and slender, with a free flagellum); leptomorph (simiae-form, slender, with a free flagellum); isomorph (congolense-form, short, generally without a free flagellum); pachymorph (montgomeryi-form, short and stout; 0.25 < WLr < 0.34, without a free flagellum), and hyperpachymorph ("hyper montgomeryi-form", short and very stout; 0.35 < WLr < 0.7, without a free flagellum).

8 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The genetic population structure of a possibly isolated population of Glossina palpalis gambiensis in a sacred wood in South Burkina Faso is investigated using microsatellite DNA markers, finding that genotypic proportions in this population were in agreement with random mating model and that these tsetse were genetically highly differentiated from other populations of the same Mouhoun river basin only a few kilometers away, confirming its genetic isolation.

6 citations