Human trypanosomiasis today

Human African trypanosomiasis.

Human African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness is one of the most important but equally most neglected tropical infections. It is caused by a protozoan, Trypanosoma brucei, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of a tsetse fly (Glossina spp). Patchy distribution of the various vector species confines the disease to some 200 microfoci in sub-Saharan Africa (fig 1). The disease had ...

Human African trypanosomiasis.

Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. It is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, transmitted by tsetse flies. Almost all cases are due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, which is indigenous to west and central Africa. Prevalence is strongly dependent on control measures, which are often neglected during periods of political instability, th...

Hypocretin and human African trypanosomiasis.

OBJECTIVES To detail clinical and polysomnographic characteristics in patients affected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (Tb.g.) human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) at different stages of evolution and to measure and compare cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of hypocretin-1 with narcoleptic patients and neurologic controls. METHODS Twenty-five untreated patients affected with T.b.g. HAT were ...

Epidemiology of human African trypanosomiasis

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness, is caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, which is a chronic form of the disease present in western and central Africa, and by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, which is an acute disease located in eastern and southern Africa. The rhodesiense form is a zoonosis, with the occasional infection of humans, but in the gambiense form, the huma...

Sleeping sickness – human African trypanosomiasis