Sleeping sickness, also called african trypanosomiasis, is caused by two protozoan parasites (Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense), which are inoculated into the body by the bite of tsetse flies of the genus Glossina. It is an insect that can only be found in sub-saharan Africa, so it is only possible to acquire the infection, if you are travelling in this continent.
These insects tend to live in vegetation areas close to the coast, rivers and lakes, as well as in forests and savannas. The flies were infected with the trypanosome by sucking the blood of some infected animal or human, so is it the case that there are some areas that can inhabit the fly ts-tse, but not to give the disease.
The bite is usually produced during the day and is painful. If you are infected with this parasite it is inoculated into the bloodstream and starts to breed and to spread throughout the body. Sleeping sickness by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (West and Central Africa) is evolving more slowly than that caused by the species rhodesiense (East & South Africa).
Symptoms of sleeping sickness
The first general symptoms may begin to appear after about a week:
Headache.
Muscle aches and pains.
Generalized itching.
State of great weakness.
Inflammation lymph node throughout the body.
Subsequently, they develop others to the extent that the infection begins to affect the different systems of the organism, being the first the cardiovascular, renal and endocrine:
Tachycardia.
Anemia.
Weight loss.
Important to retention of liquids, which generates an appreciable edema.
Then the trypanosome invades the central nervous system and start to occur mood changes are unpredictable and sudden and appear episodes of sleepiness during the day that gradually become more frequent and last longer, while during the night it causes insomnia.
As the disease progresses, sleep any effort, however small it is little less than impossible. One of the signs most common of this stage is what is known as the sign of Kerandel or key, which is nothing more than the inability of turning a key in the inside lock to the intense pains that occur in the wrist.
Sleep disease: types, prevention and treatment
Sleeping sickness can be caused by two types of trypanosome: Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, which occurs in East Africa and the Southern region, and the Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, which is the characteristic of Central and West Africa. Both parasites define two types of sleeping sickness, which differ mainly in the time of evolution prior to the occurrence of the death of the patient.
The most frequent -90% of cases– is the gambiense and in this case the infection is chronic, because the person may be infected for months or even years without manifesting symptoms of the disease, although when these begin to appear means that you are in a very advanced stage and that the central nervous system is already affected. The way rhodesiense is more acute, it progresses more quickly and the first symptoms are detected within a few weeks or months after he suffered the bite of the tsetse fly.
Prevention of sleeping sickness
The preventive measure most obvious is to avoid areas of sub-saharan Africa that constitute the natural habitat of the tsetse fly: the vegetation of the coast, rivers, lakes, some forests and the savannah.
From the perspective of collective prevention is quite complicated, since there is no vaccine. There is the possibility of carrying out a preventive treatment with pentamidine, but this has very limited effectiveness in time. Therefore, the prevention implies the need to be continuously spraying the areas of nesting, while another option, although not too effective. is the rearing of sterile males in order to avoid that the fly can be reproduced.
The more effective preventive measures are the individual:
Avoid areas where there might be tsetse flies, especially if there are cases of sleeping sickness.
Dress wide, of cotton or linen in light colors, covering the biggest possible part of the body.
Use in the exposed areas and especially in the hours of more heat, insect repellents topics containing N-diethyl-m-toluamide (deet) or dimethyl phthalate.
Sleep should be placed around the bed a mosquito net treated with permethrin or deltamethrin and make sure that there are no insects inside before they are introduced to it. There is that fix it in a way that can't be opened, for example, by inserting the ends under the mattress.
In the interior of the buildings you can use insecticides with pirterina.
Treatment of sleeping sickness
The treatment of sleeping sickness depends on whether or not there has been the involvement of the central nervous system. If you have not given the case we use a drug called suramin, which is administered intravenously with a dose that depends on the age and body weight of the patient. This treatment has significant side effects that must be administered under medical control.
If it has been produced since the neurological impairment, the treatment should be performed with melarsoprol, also intravenously every ten or twenty days, as it is a drug with a high toxicity. In the case of sleeping sickness has been caused by the species gambiensa of the trypanosome, the drugs must be to address the treatment are eflornithine and pentamidine.
GOOD MORININGS FREINDS IAM YASH MISHRA WELCOME IN THIS BLOG YOU REVIEW AND EDITING AND BLOG REALTED KNOWLEDEGE SO LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE AND SUBSCRIBE MY CHANNEL FOLLOW ON YOUTUBE.