any of several bloodsucking African flies of the genus Glossina, that act as a vector of sleeping sickness and other trypanosome infections of humans and domestic animals.
Also called African sleeping sickness, African trypanosomiasis. a generally fatal disease, common in parts of Africa, characterized by fever, wasting, and progressive lethargy: caused by a parasitic protozoan, Trypanosoma gambiense or T. rhodesiense, that is carried by a tsetse fly, Glossina palpalis.
