What Causes It?

There are 31 species and subspecies of tsetse flies under the genus Glossina, family Glossinidae, and order Diptera. Although the tsetse flies can be found over some 9 million squared kilometers of the African continent, presence of glossina populations throughout the continent are far from continuous. In general, the Sahara and Somali Deserts limit the populations in the north, extending across the entire continent from Senegal in the west to southern Somalia in the east. Tsetse populations are denser in West and Central Africa, and are found more at irregular intervals to the East and down to the borders of the Kalahari and Namibian Deserts in Southern Africa. Unlike other insects, there are no seasonal interruptions in the life cycles of tsetse flies. Below The diagram further explains the involvment of the tsetse fly in the process of infection of African Trypanosomiasis.