Abstract:
A study was carried out to determine the infection rates of trypanosomes in Glossina pallidipes and
Glossina fuscipes fuscipes fly species in Gojeb valley of Ghibe - Omo river system at Shebe Sombo woreda,
Southwest of Ethiopia. Tsetse flies were traped, dissected and their organs (proboscis, salivary glands and
mid-gut) were microscopically examined. A total of 384 tsetse flies were randomly selected and dissected.
200(52%) of them were G. pallidipes and 184(48%) were G. fuscipes fuscipes. Out of the dissected flies, 49
(24.5%) G. pallidipes and 42 (22.8%) G. fuscipes fuscipes were positive for trypanosomes. However, the
difference is not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Out of 200 dissected G. pallidipes flies 33(16.5%), 15 (7.5%)
and 1(0.5%) were infected by T. vivax, T. congolense and T. brucei respectively. On the other hand, out of
184 dissected G. fuscipes fuscipes flies 27(14.7%) were infected by T. vivax and 15 (8.2%) were infected by
T. congolense. The study showed that, infection rate of T. vivax is higher in both species of tsetse flies than
with T.congolense. There was a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in trypanosome infection rates
between male and female G. pallidipes fly species. Infection rates in male and female G. pallidipes and male
and female G. fuscipes fuscipes were18.35%, 31.87%, 21.43% and 24% respectively. Finally a few points of
recommendations were forwarded to alleviate the problem
