Sleeping Sickness In South African Americans

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, is caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. These parasites cause two disease forms that occur in different geographical regions of Africa: West and Central Africa, versus East and South Africa, respectively. (2) However, most cases of HAT are due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. (1) The tsetse fly acts as the vector for the transmission of this protozoan parasite between mammalian hosts. Both the male and female flies are able to transmit the parasite since they are both blood-feeders. However, a fly needs to first feed on an infected mammalian host in order to become infected with trypanosomes. (1) Trypanosomes are protozoa (unicellular …show more content…
(1) Neurological symptoms are mainly motor symptoms, such as tremor, hemiparesis, akinesia, and dyskinesia to name a few. Some of the psychiatric symptoms seen include irritability, aggressive behaviour, psychotic reactions and apathetic inactivity. (1) Disease caused by T b gambiense usually takes on a chronic progressive course, whereas that caused by T b rhodesiense is usually acute, with death occurring within weeks or months. Coma and death can result from infection by either T b gambiense or T b rhodesiense if left untreated. Luckily, there are a few drugs that can be used for treatment of HAT. Different treatments are used depending on the pathogen that caused the disease, as well as the stage of the disease. Pentamidine, Eflornithine, and Melarsoprol are used to treat disease caused by T b gambiense, whereas Suramin and Melarsoprol are used to treat disease caused by T b rhodesiense. (1) Although there are drugs to treat sleeping sickness, prevention is ideal. Since there is no vaccine against trypanosome infection, the only way infection can be prevented is by reducing tsetse fly