Animal African Trypanosomiasis in humans; an emerging zoonosis?

已知非洲人类锥虫病是由两个亚种引起的：布氏冈比亚锥虫和布氏罗得西亚锥虫，这两个亚种已获得感染人类的能力。大多数其他导致动物锥虫病的锥虫，如布氏锥虫、刚果锥虫和间日锥虫，一直被认为只会感染动物。我们在喀麦隆一个偏远地区的人类身上发现了动物病原体刚果（金）的DNA痕迹，这表明它们可能在一种新的人类病原体中发展，一种典型的人畜共患病。该项目的总体目标是了解导致动物致病性锥虫在人类中的适应过程。根据这一目标，在两年的申请期内，将处理以下四个方面：潜在人畜共患病锥虫的鉴定和特征，人畜共患病锥虫存在对人类健康的影响，潜在人畜共患病锥虫在活跃的HAT地区的发生，潜在人畜共患病寄生虫在最近没有报告HAT病例的地区的发生

Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is known to be caused by two subspecies of try­pa­no­so­mes: T. brucei gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense, which have acquired the ability to infect humans. Most other trypanosomes, which are responsible for animal trypanosomosis, such as T. b. brucei, T. congolense, and T. vivax, have been thought of as infective only to animals. We have found DNA traces of the animal pathogen T, congolense in humans loving in a remote area of Cameroon, suggesting that these may develp in a new human pathogen, a typical zoonosis. The overall aim of the project is to understand the processes leading to adaptation of animal pathogenic trypanosomes in humans.In accordance with this aim, the following four aspects will be addressed in the two years of the application period:Identification and characterisation of a potential zoonotic trypanosome The impact of the presence of zoonotic trypanosomes on human healthThe occurrence of potentially zoonotic trypanosomes in an active HAT location The occurrence of potentially zoonotic parasites in an area, where no recent HAT cases have been reported