Sleeping sickness
Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), is a fatal parasitic disease that affects 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: 60 million people are at risk. Nearly eliminated in the 1960s, HAT has been making a comeback of epidemic proportions due to war, population movements and the collapse of health systems over the past two decades.
Sleeping sickness is caused by two sub-species of Trypanosoma parasites, which are transmitted to humans by tsetse flies. The disease has two stages. The early stage entails bouts of fever, headaches, pains in the joints and itching. The second, known as the neurological phase, begins when the parasite crosses the blood-brain barrier and infests the central nervous system...
01 March 2012
5 stories published in this month's news update:
Maternal health – Saving women’s lives
Dadaab – Back to square one
Tuberculosis – A constant battle
Sleeping sickness – A mobile team in in central Africa
Novartis – The final act
22 November 2011
Democratic Republic of Congo
22 November 2011
Democratic Republic of Congo
20 July 2011
MSF Activity Report 2010
30 June 2010
In June 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the number of new cases of sleeping sickness (proper name: human African trypanosomiasis) reported has dropped below 10,000 for the first time in 50 years. Last year, there were 9,877 reported cases of the disease compared to 17,600 in 2004; WHO is justifiably proud of this achievement, and says that it has rekindled hopes of eliminating the disease altogether. However, there needs to be a note of caution clipped to this news. The reality is that no one knows exactly how big the problem of sleeping sickness is and in an unknown number of remote and neglected areas of Africa, the disease is still rife.
Sleeping sickness is a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite...
