Résumé
The blood meal origins of 222 tsetse flies (213
Glossina palpalis palpalis, 7
Glossina pallicera pallicera, one
Glossina nigrofusca and one
Glossina caliginea) caught in 2008 in two Human African trypanosomiasis foci (Bipindi and Campo) of south Cameroon were investigated. 88.7% of tsetse flies blood meals were identified using the heteroduplex method and the origin of the remaining blood meals (11.3%) was identified by sequencing the cytochrome B gene. Most of the meals were from humans (45.9%) and pigs (37.4%), 16.7% from wild animals. Interestingly, new tsetse fly hosts including turtle (
Trionyx and
Kinixys) and snake (
Python sebae) were identified. Significant differences were recorded between Bipindi where the blood meals from pigs were predominant (66.7%
vs 23.5% from humans) and Campo where blood meals from humans were predominant (62.9%
vs 22.7% from pigs). Comparison with the data recorded in 2004 in the same foci (and with the same molecular approach) demonstrated significant modifications of the feeding patterns: increase in blood meals from pigs in Bipindi (66.7% in 2008
vs 44.8% in 2004) and in Campo (20.5% in 2008
vs 6.8% in 2004), decrease in that from human (significant in Bipindi only). 12.6%, 8.1% and 2.7% of the flies were, respectively,
Trypanosoma congolense forest type,
Trypanosoma congolense savannah type and
Trypanosoma brucei gambiense infected. These results demonstrate that tsetse fly feeding patterns can be specific of a given area and can evolve rapidly with time. They show an active circulation of a variety of trypanosomes in sleeping sickness foci of southern Cameroon.