Eradication of tsetse from Zanzibar with sterile insects
Erradicación de la mosca tse-tsé de Zanzíbar con insectos estériles
- Date
- 1994-1997 · confidence high
- Place
- Unguja Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania
- Credited to
- IAEA, FAO and the Government of Zanzibar (Marc Vreysen and team)
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
By releasing laboratory-reared sterile male Glossina austeni, the tsetse population of Unguja was wiped out. It was the first success of the sterile insect technique against tsetse in Africa.
The sterile insect technique had been used earlier on fruit flies and screwworm; in Zanzibar it was combined with traps and spraying. Eradication was declared around 1997 after monitoring.
What it led to
- safer and more productive livestock in Zanzibar
- application in projects in Senegal and Ethiopia
- a model for eradication in isolated areas