Ecology and Epidemiological Importance Coast Forest Zone of Glossina Palpalis in the Ivory

Ecological surveys were carried out to assess the population characteristics and epidemiological importance of Glossina palpalis palpalis (Rob-Desv.), 1830 in the human trypanosomiasis focus of Vavoua in the forest zone of Ivory Coast. G. p. pulpalis was widespread in all components of the ecosystem: forest, interstitial savannahs, coffee plantations, tracks and villages. Most flies were caught at the forest edge. Sex ratio and age composition of populations varied in relation to trapping sites. Open areas were dispersal places. Plantations provided resting, feeding and breeding sites giving rise to close man-fly contact. Here, teneral flies could become infected and later on transmit trypanosomes to plantation workers and their families. The role of man and domestic pigs together with that of fly behaviour and genetic factors in the transmission of the disease are discussed. Methods of tsetse control are suggested in the light of the findings. K e y Words: Glossina palpalis, tsetse fly, ecology, epidemiology, Ivory Coast