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Genetic diversity among Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense isolates from Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1997

E. K. KOMBA ,
S. N. KIBONA ,
A. K. AMBWENE ,
J. R. STEVENS  and
W. C. GIBSON
E. K. KOMBA
Affiliation:
National Institute for Medical Research, Tabora Research Station, P.O. Box 482 Tabora, Tanzania Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
S. N. KIBONA
Affiliation:
National Institute for Medical Research, Tabora Research Station, P.O. Box 482 Tabora, Tanzania
A. K. AMBWENE
Affiliation:
National Institute for Medical Research, Tabora Research Station, P.O. Box 482 Tabora, Tanzania
J. R. STEVENS
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
W. C. GIBSON
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
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Abstract

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We compared 19 stocks of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense collected in 1991 and 1994 from Tanzania with representative stocks from other foci of Rhodesian sleeping sickness in Zambia, Kenya and Uganda. Stocks were characterized by isoenzyme electrophoresis, restriction fragment length polymorphisms in variant surface glycoprotein genes and random amplification of polymorphic DNA; the banding patterns obtained were coded for numerical analysis. In addition, the Tanzanian stocks were compared by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. Overall the Tanzanian stocks formed a homogeneous group and the predominant genotype isolated in 1991 was still present in the 1994 sample, although at a reduced level. The Tanzanian stocks were distinct from representative stocks from other East African foci. This observation does not support the proposal that there are northern and southern strains of T. b. rhodesiense, but is consistent with the view that T. b. rhodesiense stocks form a mosaic of different genotypes varying from focus to focus in East Africa.

Keywords

sleeping sicknessTanzaniaTrypanosoma brucei rhodesiensehuman trypanosomiasis
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 115 , Issue 6 , December 1997 , pp. 571 - 579
Copyright
1997 Cambridge University Press