Ancient Plagues, Modern Epidemics Today's Kinetoplastida form a diverse order of flagellated protozoans that have evolved from an ancient lineage, rooted near the base of the eukaryotic tree. The disease caused by some species of the Order Kinetoplastida have always plagued mankind, and today most are at least as prevalent as they have ever been. Kinetoplastid parasites cause disease in humans,...

A comparison is made of enzyme-immunoassay and radio-immunoassay for the detection of antibody in Chagas's disease, sleeping sickness, malaria, schistosomiasis ans invasive amoebiasis. Both assays were sensitive and reproductible and gave comparable results.

Trypanosoma brucei are unicellular parasites that cause sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in livestock. Trypanosomes salvage purines from their hosts through a variety of transporters, of which adenosine permeases deserve particular attention because of their role in drug sensitivity. T. brucei possess two distinct adenosine transport systems, P1 and P2, the latter of which also mediates c...

A pilot study was carried out on the detection of trypanosome-specific antibodies in saliva for diagnosis of sleeping sickness. All twenty-three saliva samples of parasitologically confirmed Trypanosoma brucei gambiense patients tested positive in an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, whereas all 14 saliva samples of a negative control group remained negative. Trypanosome-specific anti...

Human African Trypanosomiasis is caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense. Historically, a treatment relapse rate of about 5% is observed in patients treated with melarsoprol, an arsenical derivative used for treatment of both gambiense and rhodesiense second stage sleeping sickness. More recently, relapse rates up to 30% are noted in gambiense sleeping sickness foci in Ango...

The gambiense form of sleeping sickness is a neglected tropical disease, which is presumed to be anthroponotic. However, the parasite persists in human populations at levels of considerable rarity and as such the existence of animal reservoirs has been posited. Clarifying the impact of animal host reservoirs on the feasibility of interrupting sleeping sickness transmission through interventions...

BACKGROUND Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, persists as a public health problem in several sub-Saharan countries. Evidence-based, spatially explicit estimates of population at risk are needed to inform planning and implementation of field interventions, monitor disease trends, raise awareness and support advocacy. Comprehensive, geo-referenced epidemiologica...

The strategy that sleeping sickness parasites use to evade the mammalian immune system may be linked to the metamorphosis that allows them to transfer from mammals into tsetse flies.