Taming the tsetse

摘要

An ambitious campaign to rid Africa of one of its greatest scourges, the tsetse fly, was launched this week by African countries with the support of UN agencies. The decision follows the successful eradication of the fly from the island of Zanzibar. The tsetse fly carries single-celled parasites called trypanosomes that attack the blood and nervous system, causing sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle. Sleeping sickness kills up to 400,000 people each year, and the tsetse's direct and indirect effects are estimated to cost the continent around $4 billion a year.