Sleeping sickness

Key facts • Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is caused by protozoan parasites transmitted by infected tsetse flies. It is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Without treatment, HAT is generally fatal. • Most exposed people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry or hunting. • HAT takes 2 forms, depending on the subspecies of the infecting parasite: Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (92% of reported cases) and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (8%). • Sustained control efforts have reduced the number of new cases by 97% in the last 20 years. • Diagnosis and treatment are complex and require specific skills. Overview Human African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, is a vector-borne parasitic disease. It is caused by protozoans of the genus Trypanosoma, transmitted to humans by bites of tsetse flies (glossina) which have acquired the parasites from infected humans or animals. Tsetse flies inhabit sub-Saharan Africa and only certain species transmit the disease. Rural populations which depend on agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry or hunting are the most exposed. In many regions where tsetse flies are found, HAT is not. The disease has a focal distribution ranging from single villages to entire regions, and the incidence can vary from one village to the next. Forms of human African trypanosomiasis HAT takes 2 forms, depending on theparasite subspecies: • Trypanosoma brucei gambiense,found in 24 countries of west and central Africa, cur...

Overview Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that makes people very drowsy during the day. People with narcolepsy find it hard to stay awake for long periods of time. They fall asleep suddenly. This can cause serious problems in their daily routine. Sometimes narcolepsy also causes a sudden loss of muscle tone, known as cataplexy (KAT-uh-plek-see). This can be triggered by strong emotion, especially laughter. Narcolepsy is divided into two types. Most people with type 1 narcolepsy have cataplexy. Most people who don't have cataplexy have type 2 narcolepsy. Symptoms The symptoms of narcolepsy may get worse during the first few years of the disorder. Then they continue for life. They include: • Excessive daytime sleepiness. People with narcolepsy fall asleep without warning. It can happen anywhere and at any time. It may happen when you're bored or during a task. For example, you may be working or talking with friends and suddenly fall asleep. It can be especially dangerous if you fall asleep while driving. You might fall asleep for only a few minutes or up to a half-hour. After waking, you'll often feel refreshed but you'll get sleepy again. You also may experience a decrease in how alert and focused you feel during the day. Daytime sleepiness often is the first symptom to appear. Feeling sleepy makes it hard to focus and function. Some people with narcolepsy continue doing a task when they fall asleep briefly. For example, you may fall asleep while writing, typing or driving. Y...

For months, or even years, these ribbon-like unicellular free-riders produce few to no symptoms, quietly preparing themselves to conquer the body's 'boss'. When the parasites finally invade the brain, they nestle in neural tissue and trigger a Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a Trypanosoma brucei parasite. ( People with later stages of the infection behave in extremely erratic ways, to the point where sudden episodes of fury can even place family members at The New York Times, even the gentle touch of water can suddenly feel agonizing to those infected, causing them to scream with pain. It's an absolutely horrifying, uncontrollable state, made even more terrifying by a lack of available treatments. Left untreated, this That's why the infection is called 'sleeping sickness', or, more officially, Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT). Now, there's new hope in the quest for its eradication. The dark blue-elongate bodies of the parasite that causes sleeping sickness visualized in the brain of a patient. (California University of Pennsylvania) Scientists have known about HAT for over a century now, and yet it's HAT is caused by two subspecies of Trypanosoma endemic to Africa, but most cases today are triggered by T. brucei gambiense in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This subspecies is often said to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, which is a defensive wall that keeps most toxins and pathogens out of the central nervous system. Nevertheless, some studies on rodents T. b....

You may feel like falling asleep all the time due to a condition that reduces your sleep quality, a sleep disorder, or a side effect of medication. Excessive sleepiness is the feeling of being especially tired or drowsy during the day. Unlike fatigue, which is more about low energy, excessive sleepiness can make you feel so tired that it interferes with school, work, and possibly even your relationships and day-to-day functioning. In a poll by the American Sleep Foundation, The key to overcoming excessive sleepiness is to determine its cause. There are several sleep-related problems that need to be evaluated before a diagnosis of IH can be given. Any condition that keeps you from getting good quantity and quality sleep at night can cause excessive sleepiness during the day. Daytime sleepiness may be the only symptom you know, but other signs, such as For many people with Among the more common causes of excessive sleepiness are: Sleep apnea Sleep apnea also has several other symptoms. Some of them include: • loud snoring and gasping for air while sleeping • • • Sleep apnea can also contribute to high blood pressure and other heart problems, as well as There are actually two main types of sleep apnea. They can both cause excessive sleepiness because they keep you from getting enough • Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This occurs when the tissue in the while you sleep and partially covers your airway. • Central sleep apnea (CSA). This happens when the brain signals to the muscl...

Overview Sleep disorders are conditions that result in changes in the way that you sleep. A sleep disorder can affect your overall health, safety and quality of life. Sleep deprivation can affect your ability to drive safely and increase your risk of other health problems. Some of the signs and symptoms of sleep disorders include excessive daytime sleepiness, irregular breathing or increased movement during sleep. Other signs and symptoms include an irregular sleep and wake cycle and difficulty falling asleep. There are many different types of sleep disorders. They're often grouped into categories that explain why they happen or how they affect you. Sleep disorders can also be grouped according to behaviors, problems with your natural sleep-wake cycles, breathing problems, difficulty sleeping or how sleepy you feel during the day. Some common types of sleep disorders include: • Insomnia, in which you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night. • Sleep apnea, in which you experience abnormal patterns in breathing while you are asleep. There are several types of sleep apnea. • Restless legs syndrome (RLS), a type of sleep movement disorder. Restless legs syndrome, also called Willis-Ekbom disease, causes an uncomfortable sensation and an urge to move the legs while you try to fall asleep. • Narcolepsy, a condition characterized by extreme sleepiness during the day and falling asleep suddenly during the day. There are many ways to help diagnose slee...

Sleeping Sickness Sleeping Sickness Meaning “Sleeping Sickness or African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease that is caused by the parasite named Trypanosoma brucie.” What is Sleeping Sickness? Sleeping sickness is a tropical disease that can prove fatal if not treated properly. It spreads through the bite of the Tsetse fly, a species that is native to the African continent. The people living in the rural parts of Africa are more at risk of contracting this disease. The fly bite develops into a red sore and the person soon experiences fever, muscle and joint ache, swelling in the lymph glands, irritation and headache. In advanced stages, the disease attacks the Also Read: Sleeping Sickness Causes The two parasites named Trypanosoma brucie gambiense and Trypanosoma brucie rhodesiense cause this disease. These parasites are present in the flies like the Tsetse fly that is mainly involved in transmitting the disease. When this fly bites the humans, the infection spreads throughout the body through the blood. These parasites can also transfer the placenta and can be transmitted through the mother to the child. Contaminated needles are also responsible for spreading the disease. Symptoms of Sleeping Sickness A lot of changes occur in the body after the infection. Few symptoms of sleeping sickness are listed below: • An unclear speech. • Seizures. • Irritation. • Swelling of the brain. • Swelling of the lymph nodes. • Causes weakness in the body. • Feeling of sleeplessness...

Medical condition Encephalitis lethargica Other names Economo's disease; von Economo's encephalitis An illustration from von Economo's Die Encephalitis lethargica (1918) showing brain tissue of a monkey affected by Encephalitis lethargica, as seen under a microscope Causes Unknown Frequency Unknown Encephalitis lethargica is an atypical form of sleeping sickness" or " sleepy sickness" (distinct from Signs and symptoms [ ] Encephalitis lethargica is characterized by high [ citation needed] Patients may also experience abnormal [ citation needed] Cause [ ] The causes of encephalitis lethargica are uncertain. The German neurologist Felix Stern, who examined hundreds of encephalitis lethargica patients during the 1920s, noted that their encephalitis lethargica typically evolved over time. The early symptoms would be dominated by sleepiness or wakefulness. A second symptom would lead to an oculogyric crisis. The third symptom would be recovery, followed by a Parkinson-like syndrome. If patients of Stern followed this course of disease, he diagnosed them with encephalitis lethargica. Stern suspected encephalitis lethargica to be close to Die Epidemische Encephalitis. In 2010, in a substantial Oxford University Press compendium reviewing the historic and contemporary views on EL, its editor, Joel Vilensky, of the Does the present volume solve the "riddle" of EL, which… has been referred to as the greatest medical mystery of the 20th century? Unfortunately, no: but inroads are cer...

sleeping sickness, also called African trypanosomiasis, Glossina). Sleeping sickness is characterized by two stages of illness. In the first stage, infected persons typically experience T. brucei rhodesiense) or within one to two years ( T. brucei gambiense), is marked by involvement of the Infections with T. brucei gambiense occur in an area extending from the west coast of T. brucei rhodesiense are limited to the highlands of central eastern and southern Africa. Several major 44 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Health and Medicine Quizzes Infection and disease course The vast majority of human cases result from the transfer of T. brucei After an incubation period in humans lasting one to two weeks, the trypanosomes are found in significant numbers in the circulating blood. Next the lymph nodes and T. brucei rhodesiense infection, toxemia becomes so profound that the patient dies within months. In the T. brucei gambiense infection, there is a delay of one or more years before the trypanosomes proceed to invade the brain and spinal cord. The resulting neurological symptoms include severe headache, mental dullness and Diagnosis and treatment The earlier that sleeping sickness is diagnosed and treated, the greater the chances for recovery. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. T. brucei rhodesiense infection is useless once the fulminating toxemic stage has developed. Researchers have been investigating eflornithine-based combina...

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