VIENNA:
Scientists said Thursday they have cracked the genetic code of the
tsetse fly, potentially helping to tackle one of sub-Saharan Africa´s
most devastating livestock diseases as well as human sleeping sickness.
"Decoding
the tsetse fly´s DNA is a major scientific breakthrough," said Kostas
Bourtzis from a joint body of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
and the International Atomic Energy Agency which sequenced the genome in
a 10-year international effort.
He said it "opens the way
for more effective control of trypanosomiasis, which is good news for
millions of herders and farmers in sub-Saharan Africa".
Found
only in Africa, bloodsucking tsetse flies are vectors for the parasites
that cause trypanosomiasis, or nagana, an often-lethal disease that
affects some three million animals each year.
It leads to a
debilitating chronic condition that reduces fertility, weight gain and
milk production, and makes livestock too weak for ploughing or
transport, which in turn makes it harder for farmers to grow crops.
Humans bitten by carrier flies can develop African sleeping sickness, which can be fatal without treatment.
No
vaccine exists for livestock or humans because the parasite is able to
evade mammals´ immune systems, so control methods primarily involve
trapping, pesticides and sterilising male flies using radiation.
The
sequencing of the genome will allows scientists to better study the
fly´s genes and their functions, knowledge that should open the door for
researching ways to control the insect, Bourtzis said in a statement.
"Detection
and treatment of trypanosomiasis is currently expensive, difficult and
dangerous for the livestock as it often involves toxic drugs," he said.
"But
this new knowledge will accelerate research on tsetse control methods
and help scientists develop new and complementary strategies to reduce
the use of costly drugs and insecticides."
The FAO and
IAEA´s Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture is
currently helping 14 African countries to control tsetse populations
using sterilisation and other methods, with the fly already eradicated
on the island of Zanzibar and progress being made in Ethiopia and
Senegal.
A first set of findings on the tsetse fly genome was due to be published in the journal Science on Friday. (AFP)
