tsetse fly /tset″sē, tsē″tsē/ [Afr, tsetse + AS, flyge] , a blood-sucking fly found in regions of Africa, mainly south of the Sahara desert. It is an insect of the Glossina genus and a secondary host of trypanosomes, which cause African sleeping sickness and other diseases in humans and domestic and wild animals. Also spelled tzetze fly. See also trypanosomiasis.
