Trypanosome infection rates in tsetse flies in the "silent" sleeping sickness focus of Bafia in the Centre Region in Cameroon.

Background The Bafia sleeping sickness focus of Cameroon is considered as “silent” with no case reported for about 20 years despite medical surveys performed during the last decades. In this focus, all epidemiological factors that can contribute to trypanosomes transmission are present. To update our knowledge on the current risks of Human and Animal African trypanosomiases, different trypanosome species were identified in midguts of tsetse flies captured in the Bafia focus. [...] The present study was designed to update our knowledge on the current risks of HAT and AAT in the “silent” HAT focus of Bafia of Cameroon by providing entomological data as well as trypanosome infections in tsetse flies captured in villages of this focus. Thereafter, the distribution of tsetse flies and trypanosome infections was performed in order to localize sites and villages where transmission of trypanosomes is still active and where the control operation must be implemented.