Sleeping sickness, also called African trypanosomiasis (ATH), is caused by two protozoan parasites, Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, which enter the human body through the bite of the tsetse fly. The disease has several phases of development, but it is especially characterized by producing a state of constant drowsiness that ends up leading to the death of the patient.
Causes of sleeping sickness
Insect bite
The cause of the disease is the bite of the tsetse fly. This insect lives only in sub-Saharan Africa and usually lives in the vegetation of coastal areas, as well as in rivers and lakes. Flies are infected by sucking the blood of an infected animal. They bite during the day and their bite causes pain.
Symptoms of sleeping sickness
They appear a week after the bite
The first symptoms appear about a week after the bite, more or less.
– Headache.
– Muscle pain.
– Fatigue.
The disease continues its development and other symptoms appear, as other parts of the body are affected, such as:
– Tachycardia.
– Liquid retention.
– Anemia.
– Appreciable weight loss.
The time comes when it attacks the central nervous system and that is when drowsiness appears during the day and insomnia at night. All this accompanied by a feeling of great fatigue. Subsequently, the patient falls into a coma and dies.
Diagnosis of sleeping sickness
Various analyzes
In addition to a visual examination, the doctor must perform blood tests to know the general state of health and be able to confirm the diagnosis. Diagnosis requires three steps: the first consists of a rapid reactive antibody test or lymph node palpation. The second step is lymph node puncture to extract a tissue sample that is analyzed under a microscope. The third phase of diagnosis, confirmed the presence of the parasite in the blood, is a lumbar puncture in the spinal cord to look for the trypanosome in the cerebrospinal fluid to determine the stage of the disease.
Sleeping sickness treatment and medication
Two types of speeds
Sleeping sickness is caused by two types of trypanosomes that enter the body through the insect bite. One is ‘Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense’ which occurs in Central and West Africa. The most common is ‘Trypanosoma brucei gambiense’, which causes a chronic infection. The patient may be infected for years without knowing it, but when symptoms appear, the evolution is very rapid. Rhodesiense acts very quickly and the first symptoms are visible a few days after receiving the tsetse fly bite.
Sleeping sickness prevention
There is no vaccine
The only possible prevention is not to travel to the areas of sub-Saharan Africa where the tsetse fly lives, since there is no vaccine.
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