You Might Have a Sleeping Sickness

Sleeping sickness is an infection caused by germs carried by certain flies. It results in swelling of the brain. Sleeping sickness can lead to death if not attended to within six months,

CAUSES

Sleeping sickness is caused byTrypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosomoa brucei gambiense. T. b. rhodesiense causes the more severe form of the illness.

Tsetse flies carry the infection. When an infected fly bites you, the infection spreads through your blood.

Risk factors include living in parts of Africa where the disease is found and being bitten by tsetse flies. The disease does not occur in the United States, but travelers who have visited or lived in Africa can be infected.

SYMPTOMS

General symptoms include:

1. Anxiety
2. Mood changes
3. Fever
4. Headache
5. Weakness
6. Insomnia at night
7. Sleepiness during the day (may be uncontrollable)
8. Sweating
9. Swollen lymph nodes all over the body
10. Swollen, red, painful nodule at site of the fly bite

TREATMENT

Medicines used to treat this disorder include:

1. • Eflornithine (for T. b. gambiense only)
   • Melarsoprol.
   • Pentamidine (for T. b. gambiense only)
   • Suramin (Antrypol)
   • Some patients may receive combination therapy.