Biological diagnosis of human African trypanosomiasis

Abstract

Human African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness is an endemic disease in many sub-Saharan countries. The causative agent is the unicellular haemoflagellate parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which is cyclically transmitted through the saliva of blood sucking tsetse flies. The more chronic “Gambian” form of sleeping sickness, which evolves fatally over a period of several months or years, predominates in West and Central Africa. It is caused by trypanosomes of the subspecies T. b. gambiense. The more fulminant “Rhodesian” form, due to the morphologically identical T. b. rhodesiense, is merely found in East Africa, where a large variety of game and domestic animals act as reservoir hosts. This parasite, which sometimes strikes safari tourists, can kill the patient within weeks or months.