Area-wide appraisal of drug resistance in trypanosomes infecting cattle in East and Southern Africa

Abstract

The extent and significance of trypanocidal drug resistance was investigated in priority areas of three East and Southern African Countries under a project. The project was built on the results of two previous projects. Existing methods currently available for the demonstration of drug-resistance, namely therapeutic tests in domestic livestock and rodents, and tests on trypanosome isolates in vitro, have particular drawbacks. In this project, these were supplemented with a novel approach, the use of ELISAs able to quantify the concentrations of trypanocidal drugs circulating in treated cattle.