Tsetse survey in Mukono district, south-east Uganda: population structure, distribution and blood meal status

The population structure, feeding state and distribution of tsetse of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes species in Ssugu parish of Mukono district, south-east Uganda were investigated. Tsetse caught with pyramidal traps were counted, sexed and dissected for age grading. It was observed that most tsetse were caught in valley habitats in the dry season, but the distribution was almost uniform within the parish in the wet season. The apparent density and prevalence of blood meals in tsetse fluctuated in different months. There were more males with a fresh blood meal than females (P < 0.05). In the population there was a preponderance of young tsetse of less than 60 days. There were significantly more teneral males than teneral females (P < 0.05). In all months the percentage of females was higher than that of males and ranged between 51.1% to 64.6 per cent. The epidemiological implications of these findings are that the risk of contracting trypanosomosis is high during the period of uniform distribution; since this is associated with an increase in apparent density and therefore high man-tsetse-animal contact. Furthermore, these results have shown that it is possible to prevent increase in the population of tsetse by applying insecticides on animals and targets in September and early October, since recruitment in tsetse population follows the rains.