Page 113 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(1) (2024)

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the case of Asante, Glossina palpalis , Glossina other scattered locations in the north. Control
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fusca and Glossina tachinoides were the most of the northern epidemic reduced the incidence
common species of the tsetse fly and the trypa- in Asante because fewer of the labourers going
nosomes carried by these insects were less viru- south were infected with trypanosomiasis (Pat-
lent in animals. This is in line with contempo- terson 1981).
rary scholarship in physiology, parasitology and In districts like Damango, which had very
medicine. Letch (1984) argued that Glossina pal- little sleeping sickness, many cases were import-
palis has a long term effect on an infected per- ed from Asante by returning migrant workers.
son; for this reason, he called it an ineffective While the spread of the disease was associated
trypanosome. Inferring from this, the less viru- with rivers in the north, in Asante its distribution
lent nature of the trypanosomes made it difficult was linked to the road network. The outbreak of
to identify an infected person in Asante. This is trypanosomiasis in Asante came from two main
because one can harbour the disease for weeks sources: travellers and animals (PRAAD, Ku- 113
or months before symptoms are exhibited, and mase, ARG 1/14/16, Captain Beal’s Report on
this was a contributory factor to the spread of losses Amongst Cattle Brought to the Coast al-
the disease in the Gold Coast, especially in As- leged to be due to Trypanosomiasis, 1926). The
ante (PRAAD, Kumase, ARG 1/14/16, Captain geographical location of Asante served as a fac-
Beal’s Report on losses Amongst Cattle Brought tor which contributed to the outbreak of the dis-
to the Coast alleged to be due to Trypanosomi- ease. Asante served as the epicentre of the north
asis, 1926). and the southern territories where all traders
Beginning in 1909, Dr Kinghorn spent a from diverse places passed. Disastrous conse-
year surveying central Asante and portions of quences followed when traders from Wenchi,
Bono Ahafo. He found only 106 cases out of Yeji, Bawku, and Kintampo brought the dis-
1,800 people examined. In 1912, Dr W.M Wad ease to Asante. These areas were reported by
completed a thorough survey of Western As- Dr Young and Kinghorn as tsetse-prone areas.
ante. In this area, people were aware of sleep- In their expedition from Accra to Bawku, they
ing sickness and attempted to treat it. Out reported that there was a considerable number
of 39,742 people examined in 196 villages, 102 of tsetse flies in these areas (PRAAD, Kumase,
were infected. Most of the victims were mi- ARG1/14/16 Report by A.M.J Pomeroy, Med-
grants from the northern territories. Vegeta- ical Entomologist 1925). Recent reports in the Indigenous and European Policies and Strategies for Combatting Asante Trypanosomiasis
tion that harboured the fly which caused sleep- twenty-first century, especially from the World
ing sickness was cleared (PRAAD, Accra, ADM Health Organization (WHO), highlight that
11/1/1560, Human Trypanosomiasis Commit- the mode of transmission is not only from tset-
tee and best means of combating, 1935.). Tryp- se fly bites but can be transmitted through oth-
anosomiasis was virtually eliminated in Law- er means, which include mother-child infection
ra, Wa and Tumu districts. However, despite a (the trypanosome can cross the placenta and in-
small outbreak in the 1950s, it was largely con- fect the foetus) and mechanical transmission
fined to a few areas in the south, Mamprusi and through another blood-sucking insect, among
others (World Health Organization 2016). To-
3 Glossina palpalis is a vector of the sleeping sickness which gether, the presence of these traders in Asante
occurs primarily in dense streamside vegetation and which and the various means of transmission contrib-
feeds in more open woodlands. Glossina palpalis is the uted greatly to the spread of the disease. Again,
chief carrier of the parasite Trypanosoma brucei gambiense,
which causes sleeping sickness throughout Western and the report from WHO specified that an infect-
Central Africa (Encyclopedia Britannica n.d.b). ed person might not experience any symptoms
4 Glossina fusca and Glossina tachnisides [tachinoides?] are for weeks or months (World Health Organiza-
groups of tsetse species that are predominant in East Afri-
ca, and their trypanosomes are virulent in cattle. tion 2016). It is worth emphasizing that traders