Molecular epidemiology of African trypanosomiasis: the contributions of David George Godfrey OBE to the biochemical characterization of trypanosomes*

Abstract

The accurate identification of the causative organisms of disease is fundamental to the study of epidemiology. Hence molecular tools are now widely used to detect and distinguish pathogens, and have greatly improved our understanding of epidemiology. David Godfrey pioneered the use of molecular markers in the epidemiology of African trypanosomiasis, thus enabling the light of reliable evidence to shine on this previously problematic and controversial subject area. From the early 1970’s David’s group employed first isoenzyme electrophoresis and subsequently DNAbased characterization methods to aid identification of trypanosomes collected from a range of endemic countries across Africa. These investigations had a major impact on our understanding of the zoonotic nature of human trypanosomiasis in Africa and of the genetic diversity of African trypanosomes.

Keywords

• African trypanosomiasis
• Trypanosoma brucei
• Trypanosoma congolense
• Trypanosoma vivax
• isoenzyme electrophoresis
• reservoir hosts
• numerical taxonomy
• clonality