African sleeping sickness trypanosomiasis is caused by a parasite. Its delivered to your bloodstream via a tsetse fly bite, which are flies only found in Aftrica.
Two parasite subspecies cause this trypanosomiasis infection, Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosomoa brucei gambiense. The more severe form being rhodesiense.
If African sleeping sickness is left untreated, death usually occurs within months from rhodesiense and within a couple of years from the gambiense type infection.
The initial trypanosomiasis infection symptom is a red, swollen chancre sore at the bite site. The infection then spreads through your blood, causing episodes of:
As the parasite infection spreads to your nervous system, it causes sickness symptoms of extreme sleepiness, tiredness and drowsiness. Your desire to sleep becomes increasingly irrepressible as the disease progresses.
Other symptoms at this trypanosoma infectious disease stage might involve:
- rash
- tremors
- malaise
- weakness
- weight loss
- myocarditis
- hyperphagia
- painful joints
- eye puffiness
- hand swelling
- aching muscles
You’ll likely experience daytime sleepiness and tiredness, but then experience insomnia at night.
Once trypanosomiasis invades your brain, these symptoms may start up:
- fear
- anxiety
- seizures
- irritability
- confusion
- encephalitis
- mood swings
- slurred speech
- personality changes
- walking, talking difficulties
The need to sleep becomes so overwhelming that it eventually leads to a coma. And death may ensue as a result of:
- malnutrition
- cardiac failure
- infection itself
- secondary infections
There is no vaccine to prevent parasite caused African sleeping sickness. However, treatment is available.
Your health is best served with swift medical intervention against Trypanosoma cause of a frenzied need to sleep.
