African sleeping sickness is another name for the illness, African trypanosomiasis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are two types of African trypanosomiasis: West African and East African, each named for the region in Africa in which scientists originally discovered them.
Causes
Sleeping sickness is caused by the one-celled protozoan parasites Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, according to the World Health Organization. These organisms are carried by the tsetse fly. When an infected fly bites a human, the infection spreads throughout the bloodstream. The World Health Organization also reports that the gambiense version of sleeping sickness is the more severe of the two illnesses and represents 90 percent of reported cases.
Symptoms
One of the first symptoms of African sleeping sickness is a painful, red swelling that occurs at the site of the bite. Initial symptoms include anxiety, drowsiness, headache, fever, drowsiness, sweating and mental changes, according to the National Institutes of Health. The gambiense infection leads to drowsiness during the day and insomnia at night. As the disease progresses, sleep becomes uncontrollable and eventually leads to coma.
Diagnosis
African sleeping sickness is rare in people who have not traveled to sub-Saharan Africa and physicians question patients regarding whether they have traveled to this region. People with African sleeping sickness often show signs of inflammation of the brain and the covering known as meninges. A physician checks a patient's albumin levels, the fluid surrounding the brain and spine, and globulin levels, according to the National Institutes of Health. He may also perform a lymph node aspiration to examine the lymph fluid under a microscope.
Treatment
African sleeping sickness is treated with medications. In the initial stages of African sleeping sickness, physicians prescribe the medications pentamidine and suramin. Physicians prescribe eflornithine for second stage treatments.
Side Effects
There are side effects with each of the medications used to treat African sleeping sickness. Pentamidine may affect blood sugar, which can cause headache, chills, pale skin, shakes, anxiety and cold sweats, loss of appetite, increased urinary frequency, and fruity smelling breath. Patients taking suramin may experience cloudy urine, crawling or tingling of the skin, diarrhea, faintness, increased skin color, itching, joint pain, nausea, skin rash, stinging sensations and loss of appetite, according to MayoClinic.com. Side effects of eflurnithine may include sore throat, fever, unusual bleeding or bruising, and unusual fatigue or weakness. In rare cases, patients may experience convulsions or loss of hearing.
