Sleeping sickness (Trypartosomiasis) is caused by the Trypanosoma gambiense parasite, discovered in 1902. The disease is spread by various flies called Tsetse flies (Glossina), and the parasites live in the intestines and salivary glands of infected flies; when they bite a human being the parasite is transferred to the wound and thence to the patient's blood. The disease is confined principally to Africa and South America, where whole native districts are said to have been depopulated. An inflamed patch develops round the bite, and is followed within seven to fourteen days by fever. There is a long latent period after infection, and the onset is slow and insidious, with intermittent fever. The patient suffers from headache and weakness, and sometimes an eruption appears.
In the early stage of the disease the patient is mentally dull, the pulse is rapid and there is malaise; the spleen and glands become enlarged. The patient may recover, or the disease become chronic. After a variable period of from three months to three years, if recovery does not follow, stage two develops, with increasing weakness, fatigue, fever, tremors, slow speech, uncertain shuffling gait, neuralgia and cramps, apathy, melancholy or irritability, and vacancy of facial expression; memory and intelligence are impaired. With treatment the patient may recover even at this stage. In stage three, however, the patient sinks into a lethargic or paralytic condition, sometimes with convulsions or delirium, and is unable to speak or stand. The temperature is low, and the body is emaciated. Death is inevitable and generally occurs within eighteen months from meningitis or coma. Research Sleeping Sickness
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Abbreviations
Medicine
Research Sleeping Sickness
