Nuclear techniques for tsetsé eradication in Senegal

The tsetse fly is an insect that kills more than three million cattle in sub-Saharan Africa each year, costing the agricultural industry more than US$4 billion annually.

These flies transmit parasites that cause the debilitating disease nagana in cattle. In parts of Africa, the fly also causes ‘sleeping sickness’ in more than 75,000 humans, which affects the central nervous system and leads to disorientation, personality disturbances, stammering, convulsions, problems walking and talking, and ultimately death.

In Senegal, one of the 38 African countries infected by the tsetse fly, the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), which uses irradiation to sterilise the male flies, has almost eliminated the pest, significantly improving food security and contributing to socio-economic progress in the area, as studies indicate that the income of the rural population in the area has increased by 30 percent.

The Niayes area, located on the Atlantic coast and with a higher milk and meat production than others in the country, but with a coastal microclimate and very favourable ecological conditions for the development of Glossina palpalis gambienses or tsetse flies, was chosen for the implementation of this project.

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) uses ionising radiation to sterilise male flies that are mass-produced in special rearing facilities and then systematically released from the ground or the air into infested areas, where they mate with wild females without producing offspring, thus eradicating the pest.