| dc.description.abstract | Trypanosoma evansi is the parasite causing surra, a form of trypanosomiasis in
camels and other livestock, and a serious economic burden in Kenya and many other parts
of the world. Trypanosoma evansi transmission can be sustained mechanically by tabanid
and Stomoxys biting flies, whereas the closely related African trypanosomes T. brucei brucei
and T. b. rhodesiense require cyclical development in tsetse flies (genus Glossina) for
transmission. In this study, we investigated the evolutionary origins of T. evansi. We used 15
polymorphic microsatellites to quantify levels and patterns of genetic diversity among 41 T.
evansi isolates and 66 isolates of T. b. brucei (n= 51) and T. b. rhodesiense (n= 15),
including many from Kenya, a region where T. evansi may have evolved from T. brucei. We
found that T. evansi strains belong to at least two distinct T. brucei genetic units and … | en_US |
