Tsetse Fly African sleeping sickness is an infectious disease of tropical Africa. This infectious disease is caused by a protozoan organism that exists as a parasite in the blood of a number of vertebrate hosts. There are three variations of the disease that predominate in humans are transmitted by an insect vector: Two types of African sleeping sickness are caused by the following: Trypanosoma rhodesiense and T. gambiense, both transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly. Trypanosome, which early symptoms include fever, headache, and chills, followed by anaemia and joint pains. Later, the disease attacks the central nervous system, causing drowsiness, lethargy, and, if left untreated, death. The cycle of this deadly disease starts out with the tsetse fly and usually end in death if untreated. Tsetse flies are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class insecta, order Diptera, family Trypanosoma. Tsetse flies are unusual insects. The medium to large brown flies are between six to 14mm long, excluding its proboscis (which is the trunk-like process of the head). The wings are folded and scissor-like while at rest and extend a short distance beyond the end of the abdomen. Other flies have their wings projecting side-ways unlike the tsetse fly, which has overlapping wings. Tsetse flies are confined to Africa. There are 390 different species and four are found in Zambia. They are in the same family as the house and horse flies, they feed extensively on blood be it that of humans or animals. They are parasites that live in the blood or tissue of humans and other vertebrates. Egg and larval stages develop within the female. The female fly produces only one egg at a time. The larva hatches from the egg and is nourished during the growing period inside the body of the parent. When the larva is full-grown, it is deposited on the ground, and it becomes a pupa. She gives birth every 9 to 10 days. Tsetse flies mate only once, but that mating provides enough sperm to fertilize the female throughout her 90 to 100 day lifespan. Female tsetses produce at most nine larvae and therefore have one of the lowest reproduction rates in the insect world. The single-celled trypanosomes that cause sleeping sickness spend their time cycling between humans and tsetse flies. They linger in the gut of the fly, absorbing amino acids and other molecules that the fly gets by biting mammals. After about ten days the trypanosomes move into the fly's salivary glands.
The first of these is to anesthetize the entire culture and dispose of the adult generation in the fly morgue. The second is to transfer all adults to a new culture vial while recording the phenotypes and sex of the flies. These steps will be done in alternating weeks ending on week seven in which the final observation is recorded and the adult flies as well as culture vial is discarded. In between weeks the flies should be kept in a warmer with a temperature that ranges from 20℃ to 25℃ (University of South Florida, 2017, Biodiversity Lab Manual).
The purpose of this experiment is to conduct genetics studies using drosophila fly as the test organism. Scientists can study the basic biology that is shared by all organisms using a model organism, such as drosophila fly1. Drosophila fly, or more commonly known as fruit fly, has several qualities that makes it well suited for experimental genetics cross. First, fruit flies are low maintenance organisms. They are small in size (few millimeters long), so they occupy a small space and a lot of them can fit in one vial at the same time. They only require a media to feed on. In this lab, instant media was used, which is efficient as it only requires the addition of water to be used. This media contains ingredients that the fruit fly can feed one,
This link goes to the Center for Disease Control and provides some basics about West and East African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). It also includes a weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report (MMWR).
This disgusting worm parasite is spread by flies and mosquitoes. The adult worm spreads its larvae throughout the host’s lymphatic system and causes the lymph nodes to become clogged up. This also makes the tissue in the host’s body to swell up and create massive muscle deformations, otherwise known as elephantiasis. The elephantiasis mainly affects the legs and genitals. The disease also affects the eyes but that can be easily detected through close inspection but it commonly causes river blindness in the host. It’s been estimated that the parasite is one of the leading causes of blindness throughout the world.
It is caused by parasites of the Plasmodium species(in text reference). These parasites are carried by mosquitoes which become infected after biting someone who has malaria. Malaria is then passed on to others when the infected mosquito bites another person. In rare cases malaria can be passed to another person through blood transfusions, organ donations or shared needles.
One tube for the initial F1 cross utilized dumpy females and sepia males. A second tube contained the reciprocal cross. All females used were checked to make sure they were virgins. With a missed week in lab we were unable to remove the parents in the flies. The following weeks to obtain the data for the crosses shown in the tables below, we used flies prepared by the previous weeks Friday
is spread to humans by fleas from infected rodents. In the 1300s, fourth of the population
It is believed that this virus has been in hiding since ancient times. The lack of knowledge about it’s natural history and reservoirs keeps researchers seeking out the mysterious virus that has no treatment or cure. Based on the available evidence and comparisons of similar viruses, researchers believed the virus to be animal-borne and that the host animal is native to Africa. Their attempts have been unsuccessful, and the source of the virus or where it circulates in between outbreaks is unknown.
Shows the amount of fruit flies in each generation and how many female and males of each species are in each generation.
There are many symptoms such as: high fever, delirium, vomiting, muscle pain, bleeding from the lungs, mental confusion, being tired, weakness, and heavily sweating. When victims start to get these symptoms, it is most likely that they have the disease. After catching the disease people on average only survived for two to four more days. It was rare that the disease spread from person to person. Most cases it is when a human gets bit by an infected flea containing the disease. (The Black Death 245)
The results of the fruit fly (Drosphila melanogaster) experiment undertaken are important for numerous reasons. Firstly, the results obtained give statistical insight into what the data values are showcasing in this experiment. The outcomes being depicted from a mathematical point of view makes it easier to comprehend. This laboratory activity demonstrates how count data gives a much better understanding of statistics (especially for genetics and evolution). It is better to obtain results from appropriate statistics rather than making conclusions based on data such as random sexual relations, genetic and evolutionary change and diversity of the fruit fly species. Secondly, the results summarize the data into an interpretation that is to the
With no treatment half of patients who enter the second phase die within ten to fourteen days. Similar to yellow fever, malaria was transmitted to humans through mosquito bites, causing symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and vomiting. Difficult to recognize at first malaria continues to cause yellowing of the skin, seizures, and even death; these symptoms normally begin after ten to fifteen days after being contracted. Malaria was brought over to early America through slavery and killed millions of people between the seventeenth and twentieth century. Throughout the growth and expansion of America there was been several disease outbreaks both endemic and epidemic such as small pox, measles, yellow fever, and malaria. Starting with the Colombian exchange and slavery these diseases were brought to the new world and spread like wildfires that devastated populations both native and nonnative. Most commonly known for the death toll on the native Americans these diseases were so costly due to low resistance, poor sanitation, and inadequate
The average lifespan of a tsetse fly adult ranges from one to three months. The process of reproduction begins with the larva hatching from an egg within the female and the development of the young tsetse occurring within the uterus. The larva growth process usually take about nine days. While in the uterus, the larva get nutrients from fluid secreted from the female tsetse’s uterine wall. Proper nutrition is necessary because if under nourished the female fly will produce a small, underdeveloped and nonviable larva. On the other hand, adequate nutrition will ...
They are very popular because they have a relatively short life cycle, which lasts about 9 days. This makes it easy to observe multiple generations in a short period of time. The fly’s life cycle consists of egg, larvae, pupa, and adult stages. At each of these stages of development, Drosophila exhibits different phonotypical identities and mutations. The flies that were crossed contained a genetic mutation called apterous. Apterous can be observed by looking for flied that are missing wings. Flies with apterous will not have any wings. If this mutation is sex linked, it is expected that the male population will only be wingless in the F2 generation. If the mutational is autosomal, it is expected that the mutation to normal fly ratio is
Fruit fly has four life stages which are egg, pupa, larva, and adult. The generation time of fruit fly is two weeks at 21◦C. Egg and larva stages take eight days while pupa stage takes six days. That makes the adult fly to produce after two weeks. The wild type fly has dark red eyes, oval shaped eye, grayish body color, and straight wing shape. Fly with different phenotype than the wild type called mutant. Male and female flies have different characteristics in which the male flies have dark posterior part while females have lighter posterior part. Also, the male flies have a more rounded tip of abdomen than female flies (Carolina Drosophila Manual,