Population genetics of *Glossina palpalis* gambiensis in the sleeping sickness focus of Boffa (Guinea) before and after eight years of vector control: no effect of control despite a significant decrease of human exposure to the diseaseuse asterix (*) to get italics

Moise S. Kagbadouno, Modou Séré, Adeline Ségard, Abdoulaye Dansy Camara, Mamadou Camara, Bruno Bucheton, Jean-Mathieu Bart, Fabrice Courtin, Thierry de Meeûs, Sophie RavelPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"

2024

<p style="text-align: justify;">Human African trypanosomosis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, is still a major concern in endemic countries. Its cyclical vector are biting insects of the genus Glossina or tsetse flies. In Guinea, the mangrove ecosystem contains the main HAT foci of Western Africa. There, the cyclical vector is <em>Glossina palpalis</em> gambiensis. A still ongoing vector control campaign (VCC) started in 2011 in the focus of Boffa, using tiny targets, with a 79% tsetse density reduction in 2016 and significant impact on the prevalence of the disease (from 0.3% in 2011 to 0.11% in 2013, 0.0352% in 2016 and 0.0097% in 2019). To assess the sustainability of these results, we have studied the impact of this VCC on the population biology of <em>G. p.</em> gambiensis in Boffa. We used the genotyping at 11 microsatellite markers and population genetic tools of tsetse flies from different sites and at different dates before and after the beginning of the VCC. In variance with a significant impact of VCC on the apparent densities of flies captured in the traps deployed, the global population of G. p. gambiensis displayed no variation of the sex-ratio, no genetic signature of control, and behaved as a very large population occupying the entire zone. This implies that targets deployment efficiently protected the human populations locally, but did not impact tsetse flies where targets cannot be deployed and where the main tsetse population exploits available resources. We thus recommend the pursuit of vector control measures with the same strategy, through the joint effect of VCC and medical surveys and treatments, in order to protect human populations from HAT infections until the disease can be considered as entirely eradicated from the focus.</p>

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8181166You should fill this box only if you chose 'All or part of the results presented in this preprint are based on data'. URL must start with http:// or https://

Tsetse flies, Human African Trypanosomiasis, Population structure, Effective population size, Vector control, Neglected Tropical Diseases

NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).

Disease Ecology/Evolution, Ecology of hosts, infectious agents, or vectors, Evolution of hosts, infectious agents, or vectors, Parasites, Population genetics of hosts, infectious agents, or vectors

Charles Criscione <ccriscione@bio.tamu.edu>; Rosenthal, Benjamin <benjamin.rosenthal@usda.gov>; Claire Garros <claire.garros@cirad.fr>; Karen mccoy <karen.mccoy@ird.fr>; Johnson Ouma <joouma@gmail.com>; Elliot S Krafsur <ekrafsur@iastate.edu> No need for them to be recommenders of PCIInfections. Please do not suggest reviewers for whom there might be a conflict of interest. Reviewers are not allowed to review preprints written by close colleagues (with whom they have published in the last four years, with whom they have received joint funding in the last four years, or with whom they are currently writing a manuscript, or submitting a grant proposal), or by family members, friends, or anyone for whom bias might affect the nature of the review - see the code of conduct

2023-07-29 13:24:52

Hugues Nana Djeunga