Ascofuranone antibiotic is a promising trypanocidal drug for nagana.

Trypanosomosis is a disease complex which affects both humans and animals in sub-Saharan Africa, transmitted by the tsetse fly and distributed within the tsetse belt of Africa. But some trypanosome species, for example, Trypanosoma brucei evansi, T. vivax, T. theileri and T. b. equiperdum are endemic outside the tsetse belt of Africa transmitted by biting flies, for example, Tabanus and Stomoxys, or venereal transmission, respectively. Trypanocidal drugs remain the principal method of animal trypanosomosis control in most African countries. However, there is a growing concern that their effectiveness may be severely curtailed by widespread drug resistance. A minimum number of six male cattle calves were recruited for the study. They were randomly grouped into two (T. vivax and T. congolense groups) of three calves each. One calf per group served as a control while two calves were treatment group. They were inoculated with 105 cells/mL parasites in phosphate buffered solution (PBS) in 2 mL. When parasitaemia reached 1 × 107.8 cells/mL trypanosomes per mL in calves, treatment was instituted with 20 mL (25 mg/kg in 100 kg calf) ascofuranone (AF) for treatment calves, while the control ones were administered a placebo (20 mL PBS) intramuscularly. This study revealed that T. vivax was successfully cleared by AF but the T. congolense group was not cleared effectively.Contribution: There is an urgent need to develop new drugs which this study sought to address. It is suggested that the AF compound can be developed further to be a sanative drug for T. vivax in non-tsetse infested areas like South Americas.

Erratum: Ascofuranone antibiotic is a promising trypanocidal drug for nagana.

No abstract available.

Expression, immunolocalization and serodiagnostic value of Tc38630 protein from Trypanosoma congolense.

Animal African trypanosomosis is a serious constraint to livestock sector development in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease, mainly caused by Trypanosoma congolense, has a limitation in its diagnosis and treatment. There is urgent need for a simple, rapid detection technique to replace the few available serological tests that are of variable sensitivity and specificity. Currently, there is a promising use of recombinant proteins to improve on the trypanosome lysate to detect antibodies. In this respect, we have identified a stage-specific gene that is relatively highly expressed in metacyclic and blood trypomastigotes of T. congolense. According to previously obtained differential protein expression data, the gene TcIL3000.0.38630 (1,236 bp) is by 8.5 times more expressed in metacyclic and blood trypomastigotes than in procyclic trypomastigotes and epimastigotes. The same stage specific expression pattern was shown in Western blot analysis. In addition, in confocal laser scanning microscopy the Tc38630 protein was present in the cytosol and on the cell surface of metacyclic and blood trypomastigotes. Through bioinformatics, the Tc38630 had N-terminal signal sequence, hydrophilic extracellular domain, single transmembrane alpha-helix and short cytoplasmic domain, which is characteristic of the Trypanosoma brucei invariant surface glycoprotein. However, unlike T. brucei invariant surface glycoprotein, the Tc38630 existed as a single copy gene with a probable allelic polymorphism at the Nar I restriction site. The recombinant Tc38630-based ELISA detected antibodies against Tc38630 as early as 7 days post infection in experimentally infected mouse model. Taken together, our results suggest that the Tc38630 is a novel potential diagnostic antigen of Animal African trypanosomosis.

Prioritization of livestock diseases by pastoralists in Oloitoktok Sub County, Kajiado County, Kenya.

INTRODUCTION: Livestock diseases are a big challenge for the livelihood of pastoralists in sub-Saharan Africa because they reduce livestock productivity and increase mortality. Based on the literature available there is limited understanding on how pastoralists prioritize these diseases in the context of their culture, ecosystems and livelihoods. A study was conducted to provide insights on lay prioritization of animal diseases by pastoralists in Kenya. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative study was undertaken between March and July 2021. Thirty in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with community members to explore community attitudes on livestock diseases prioritization. Male and female livestock keepers were purposively selected and interviewed and they were all long-term residents of the area. Fourteen key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted with professionals from different key sectors to provide detailed stakeholder perspectives on livestock diseases. The interviews were analyzed thematically using the QSR Nvivo software to identify the emerging themes related to the study objectives. RESULTS: The pastoralists prioritized livestock diseases based on effect on their economic wellbeing, cultural values and utilization of ecosystem services. There were gender variabilities in how diseases were prioritized among the pastoralists. Men cited high priority diseases as foot and mouth disease and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia due to their regular occurrence and effect on livelihood. Notably, women regarded coenuruses as very important because it affected sheep and goats with a high mortality rate and lumpy skin disease because it rendered the meat from the carcasses inedible. Malignant catarrhal fever and trypanosomiasis were noted as some of the common diseases in the livestock-wildlife interface but not cited as priority diseases. Challenges related to disease control in pastoralist contexts exist including limited access to livestock treatment services, inadequate information on disease impact and complex environmental factors. CONCLUSION: This study sheds light on the body of knowledge in Kenya regarding livestock diseases and their prioritization by livestock keepers. This could aid in the development of a common disease control framework and prioritization at the local level which would take into consideration the dynamic socio-cultural, ecological, livelihood and economic contexts of the communities.

Adenosine-uridine-rich element is one of the required cis-elements for epimastigote form stage-specific gene expression of the congolense epimastigote specific protein.

It is known that gene expression in kinetoplastida is regulated post-transcriptionally. Several previous studies have shown that stage-specific gene expression in trypanosomes is regulated by cis-elements located in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of each mRNA and also by RNA binding proteins. Our previous study revealed that gene expression of congolense epimastigote specific protein (cesp) was regulated by cis-elements located in the 3'UTR. In the present study, we identified the adenosine and uridine rich region in the cesp 3'UTR. Using transgenic trypanosome cell lines with different egfp expression cassettes, we showed that this adenosine and uridine rich region is one of the regulatory elements for epimastigote form (EMF) stage-specific gene expression via the regulatory cis-element of the eukaryotic AU rich element (ARE). Therefore this required element within the cesp 3'UTR was designated as T. congolense ARE. This required cis-element might selectively stabilize mRNA in the EMF stage and destabilize mRNA in other stages. By RNA electro mobility shift assay, unknown stage-specific RNA binding proteins (RBPs) whose sequences specifically interacted with the required cis-element were found. These results indicate that EMF stage specific cis-element and RBP complexes might specifically stabilize cesp mRNA in EMF.