Field- and laboratory-based studies on correlates of Chlamydia trachomatis transmission by Musca sorbens: Determinants of fly-eye contact and investigations into fly carriage of elementary bodies.

ABSTRACT: Musca sorbens (Diptera: Muscidae) flies are thought to be vectors of the blinding eye disease trachoma, carrying the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) between the eyes of individuals. While their role as vectors has been convincingly demonstrated via randomised controlled trials in The Gambia, studies of fly-borne trachoma transmission remain scant and as such our understanding of their ability to transmit Ct remains poor. We examined fly-eye contact and caught eye-seeking flies from 494 individuals (79% aged ≤9 years) in Oromia, Ethiopia. Ct-carrying flies (harbouring Ct DNA) were found to cluster spatially in and nearby to households in which at least one resident had Ct infection. Fly-eye contact was positively associated with the presence of trachoma (disease), lower human body weig

SUBMITTER: Robinson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11249242 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature