Transmissibility And Virulence Of Drug Sensitive And Resistant Trypanosoma Brucei Rhodesiense Isolates From Kenya

Trypanosome parasite isolates are routinely collected within Human African Trypanosomiasis foci in the region and cryopreserved in a parasite cryobank at theTrypanosomiasis Research Center of the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI-TRC).  Investigations were conducted to compare pathogenicity and transmissibility of drug sensitive (KETRI 2427) and resistant (EATRO 237) Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense isolates obtained from the KARI-TRC bank. Glossina pallidipes (tsetse fly vector) was used for transmission in the mouse model. To determine transmission rates, two groups of tsetse flies (150 flies each) were separately infected with the drug sensitive and resistant T. b. rhodesiense isolates and were allowed to feed separately on Swiss white mice (one fly per mouse) in a controlled laboratory setting. The infected mice were regularly monitored for 1) pre-patent period (PPP), 2) parasitaemia level, 3) body weight, 4) packed cell volume (PCV) and 5) survival time for a period of 60 days-post-infection (dpi). The infection rates were significantly higher (p