SLEEPING SICKNESS

SYMPTOMS

• Anxiety/sweating
• Drowsiness/weakness
• Fever/swollen, red, painful nodule at bite
• Headache/uncontrollable sleepiness
• Insomnia/mood changes

CAUSE

• Tsetse flies carry it
• The flies bite you
• The infection spreads through the blood

PREVALENCE

• Around 7200 people in 2012

RANGE

• Only in Africa
• 36 sub-Saharan countries

SEVERITY

• Its fatal
• Death can occur within 6 months if untreated
• It gets worse very quickly
• You will go into a coma if untreated

FACTS

• Caused by parasites
• They attack the brain/nervous/circulatory systems

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LIFE-CYCLE

• Starts when fly bites you
• Parasite feeds on blood
• Parasites get into bloodstream
• They travel/multiply through the body

HOW ITS TRANSMITTED

• Its not contagious between humans
• You can only get it from the tsetse fly

SYSTEMS IT AFFECTS

• Nervous system
• Circulatory system
• Brain

HOW IMMUNE SYSTEM RESPONDS

• The pathogen changes its structure frequently
• It has a glycoprotein coating
• It stays unknown to the immune system for a while
• Immune system doesn't know how to fight off the pathogen
• Pathogen has multiplied a lot by the time it can fight it

MORE SYMPTOMS

• First stages:
• Fatigue/rashes/weight loss/muscle pain
• Later stages:(if untreated)
• Blackouts/coma/confusion/insomnia
• /personality changes/eventually death

PREVENTION

• Wear long sleeved, light colored clothes
• Avoid areas of infestation
• Use insect repellent

MEDICAL TREATMENTS

• Some medecines used:
• Melarsoprol
• Pentamidine isethianale
• Suramin