Destroying deadly tsetse fly sleeping sickness parasite

Tsetse flies, the blood-sucking insects that transmit the potentially fatal sleeping sickness disease, are usually found in Sub-Saharan Africa.

But a large colony can currently be found at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in the historic city of Antwerp.

Professor Jan Van Den Abbeele is genetically modifying the bacteria of the flies to neutralise the disease-spreading parasites that live within them.

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