The influence of host blood on infection rates in Glossina morsitans sspp. infected with Trypanosoma congolense, T. brucei and T. simiae

Trypanosoma congolense, T. brucei and T. simiae isolated from wild-caught Glossina pallidipes were fed to laboratory-reared G. morsitans centralis and G, m, morsitans to determine the effect of host blood at the time of the infective feed on infection rates. Bloodstream forms of trypanosomes were membrane-fed to flies either neat, or mixed with blood from cows, goats, pigs, buffalo, eland, waterbuck and oryx. The use of different bloods for the infective feed resulted in differences in infection rates that were repeatable for both tsetse subspecies and most parasite stocks. Goat, and to a lesser extent, pig blood facilitated infection, producing high infection rates at low parasitaemias. Blood from cows and the wildlife species produced low infection rates, with eland blood producing the lowest