The Science of Tsetse Control

Abstract

TSETSE control should never be divorced from research, though it may fall into the two categories—long-range and applied. Long-range control is devoted to the extermination of tsetse, whether concerned with the transmission of trypanosomiasis or not. Like pure research, it has great potential value but the problems of human and animal trypanosomiasis often assume dangerous proportions, demanding the immediate application of remedial measures. In this applied work the scientific side tends to be elbowed aside ; yet the need is no less and the range considerably wider than in long-range control. For urgency demands that attention be focused on the tsetse, only inasmuch as it is a menace to man and his animals. Each problem must be assessed at its true value in relation to the welfare and activities of the local people and to the economy of the country as a whole. Consideration has to be given to factors governing the transmission and spread of infection. Measures must be appraised and selected to give the greatest degree of relief in the shortest time, and, a point often overlooked, to fit in with the life of the people with the least disturbance and without leaving a burden of costly maintenance.