How quickly the disease progresses depends on the specific subspecies responsible for the infection.
you’re able to be infected for months or even years before the first symptoms become apparent.
Without treatment, the disease is almost always fatal.
Verywell / Nusha Ashjaee
What Happens Physically to a Person Who Gets African Sleeping Sickness?
The symptoms of African trypanosomiasis vary based on the stage of the untreated disease.
During this stage, a person experiences mental deterioration and, without treatment, eventually death.
East African Sleeping Sickness
East African sleeping sickness is because of the subspeciesT.
The parasite will infect the central nervous system after only a few weeks and can become fatal within months.
When a tsetse fly bites someone who is infected, it becomes infected with the parasite itself.
The fly then becomes part of the parasites life cycle, helping it grow and multiply.
After about three weeks, the newly transformed parasites make their way to the flys salivary gland.
In 2017, African sleeping sickness cases dropped below 2,000 for the first time.
It dropped under 1,000 in 2018 and remained below that number as of 2022.
How Is African Sleeping Sickness Diagnosed?
Diagnosing African trypanosomiasis as early as possible is crucial.
Catching the disease in stage one can make the infection easier and safer to treat.
The card agglutination test, for example, is a tool used to detect possibleT.
b. gambiensecases in populations where West African sleeping sickness is common.
This, in turn, can help guide diagnostic procedures.
During an exam, doctors will likely ask about a persons history of exposure.
Samples are generally taken from blood, chancres, lymph nodes, or bone marrow.
The site of the sample can depend on what subspecies is suspected of causing the infection.
For example,T.
b. rhodesienseis generally easy to spot in blood, whereasT.
b. gambienseis more readily spotted in samples taken from the lymph node.
That will help healthcare providers determine the stage of the disease and, therefore, what treatment is needed.
Can African Sleeping Sickness Be Cured?
Treatment guidelines were revised in 2024.
The best way to protect yourself is to avoid tsetse fly bites altogether.
The second stage causes mental deterioration, including personality changes and sleep disturbances.
Without treatment, it is almost always fatal.
African sleeping sickness is diagnosed based on lab tests and a physical exam.
Its treated with medications that vary depending on the subspecies of parasite and the stage of illness.
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