Tsetse flies (Glossina) are one of the insect vectors that have most greatly affected human and animal populations in Tanzania, as they transmit the blood-borne flagellate protozoa known as the Trypanosome parasite. The diseases caused by trypanosomes are Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT or Sleeping Sickness) and Animal African Trypanosomiasis (AAT or Nagana). Trypanosomiasis and tsetse flies remain the greatest obstacles to livestock development in Africa [1]. The wide occurrence of trypanosomiasis in areas of tsetse habitation [2] has effectively prevented the establishment of sustainable development of viable agricultural systems in many areas of great agricultural potential [3].

In Tanzania, tsetse flies infest approximately 33 % of the 940,027 sq km of the mainland and have been a limitation to the country’s development [4, 5]. These parasites cause sub-Saharan Africa about $4.75 billion USD of loss in agricultural potential due to livestock losses to AAT. It is estimated that productivity in livestock is heavily reduced by this disease: 70 % reduction of cattle density, 50 % in sale of meat and milk, 20 % in calving rates, and increases in calf mortality by 20 % [1].

Due to recent changes in habitat because of deforestation, climate change, and loss of native blood meal species, domestic animals, particularly livestock, are becoming an important source of food for tsetse flies [6]. In areas where there is a high density of human, cattle, and fly cohabitation, the risk of disease transmission across species is high, as it is estimated that sleeping sickness is more likely to be transmitted by a cattle-fly-human transmission cycle than a human-fly-human cycle [7]. In order to prevent large outbreaks of HAT, it is critical to identify reservoirs of HAT within cattle populations and to implement appropriate control strategies, whether at the parasite or vector level [8]. In Tanzania, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is one of the most popular tourist attractions and is bordered by Serengeti National Park, Maswa Game Reserve and Loliondo Game Reserve, all areas which are tsetse infested and at risk of HAT. NCA practices multiple land use whereby wildlife, livestock and people co-exist. The large pastoral Maasai population which lives and herds cattle in this area is therefore at great risk.

The ability to identify different species of trypanosomes has evolved from pure microscope observation [9] and unreliable field diagnostic techniques with low sensitivity to faster and more reliable gene sequencing techniques. These included both species-specific DNA probes [10–12], as well as species-specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests [13–15]. The newest methods use generic primers to sequence highly conserved regions across trypanosome species in between which are regions of varying length. Of these methods, one takes advantage of the interspecies size variation of the PCR product of the ITS-1 ribosomal RNA region [16–18]. The other technique uses fluorescent primers to detect length variations in multiple fragments in 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA regions [19, 20]. This allows for quick and specific parasite recognition without the use of various PCR tests, as was the case with the species-specific primers. It also allows for the quick detection of multiple infections within the same host. Using this last technique, our laboratory has previously detected a new species of the subgenus Trypanozoon [20]. In this study, samples from the NCA were analysed for trypanosome infection and further tested for presence of human infective T. brucei rhodesiense.

As can be seen in Tables 1 and 2, the majority of the samples were taken from Bovine specimens. This can be attributed to the fact that most of the herdsmen visited owned more cattle than goats and sheep, but were also more readily available and willing for us to sample their cows.

Of those samples testing positive for parasite DNA, the majority, 85 out of 108, were infected by a single trypanosome, T. brucei (Table 3, Fig. 2). Double infections were less rare (14). They were strictly limited to bovine hosts and all but one were T. brucei and T. congolense. Only 9 samples were single infections due to parasites other than T. brucei. For the T. brucei infections tested for T. brucei rhodesiense, only 5 out of the 85 tested positively (Table 3).Table 3

Table of trypanosome species detected within each host species sample set

This is the first study that reports on the role of ovine and caprine species in the transmission of T.brucei rhodesiense in Tanzania. While both cattle and more recently, pigs have been reported as potential reservoirs of acute human sleeping sickness [31, 32] this is the first study to address this in small ruminants. These findings, along with our discovery of a high incidence of animals infected with trypanosomiasis in the area, call for a shift in the care of livestock among the Maasai herdsmen. Normally, cattle are given the required attention and treated accordingly once animals become symptomatic. Small ruminants, even when symptomatic, are not given the required treatments. In areas of tsetse infestation, vector control and treatment of diseased animals should be common practice. For the prevention of outbreaks of the human version of the disease, these should be coupled with periodic screening of patients in areas where humans, domestic animals, wild animals, and tsetse flies cohabitate.