An international team of scientists has deciphered the genetic code of the tsetse fly, the bloodsucking insect that spreads deadly African sleeping sickness, with the hope that its biological secrets can be exploited to eradicate the malady.

The findings, announced Thursday, were the culmination of a multimillion-dollar, decadelong effort involving more than 140 scientists from 78 research institutions in 18 countries.

The fly's bite carries a parasitic micro-organism that causes sleeping sickness in people in sub-Saharan Africa and a form of the disease in animals that can devastate livestock herds.