African sleeping sickness

African sleeping sickness and, 1, 180 as chemotherapeutic agent, 1, i80 veterinary use, 1, 208 Furfuracryluric acid as metabolite of furfural, 1, 245... 

African sleeping sickness is a parasitic disease of increasing importance, with an estimated 300,000-500,000 cases annually. The etiological agents, T. brucei gambiense and T. brucei rhodesiense, are transmitted to humans by the bite of Tsetse flies. 

Nowadays, treatment of African sleeping sickness with the prevailing drugs faces three major problems ... 

Ferguson, MAJ (2000) Glycosylphosphatidylinositol biosynthesis validated as a drug target for African sleeping sickness. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97 10673-10675... 

African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) are caused by Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi, respectively. Sleeping sickness results from being bitten by the insect vector, the tsetse fly. At first there is only local lymphadenitis but about a month later generalized malaise, fever, and systemic disease involving skeletal muscle is seen. 

This compound was found to be effective in treating syphilis and African sleeping sickness, although more effective drugs soon became available. In addition to the name Salvarsan, this compound is listed in the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics as "606" to denote where it fell in the series of compounds tested by Ehrlich and his collaborators. 

The second parasitic disease we want to consider is sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, as it is also known. Sleeping sickness results from an infection by protozoa called trypanosomes that are closely related to Leishmania, and, like leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness is spread by flies. On a more general level, however, the two diseases seem quite distinct. Leishmaniasis takes several forms, only one of which is fatal, but untreated sleeping sickness invariably leads to death. Leishmaniasis is a menace in much of the... 

Several groups have shown that protein farnesylation also occurs in try-panosomatid parasites which cause diseases such as African sleeping sick-... 

Conclusion. In African trypanosomiasis there is a very marked increase of the serum IgM—about 10-20 times the normal level. Estimation of the serum IgM can be regarded as a very useful test in the diagnosis of African sleeping sickness. The concentration of serum IgG is slightly raised and serum IgA is normal. In the tropics, trypanosomiasis may be regarded as one of the chief factors which contribute to secondary macroglobulinaemia. 

In patients with African sleeping sickness, it is common to find high IgM in their CSF, but no IgM could be detected in the CSF of children... 

Many pathogenic protozoa. Including Trypanosoma brucei (trypanosomiasis or African sleeping sickness), Plasmodium falciparum (malaria), Leishmania species (leishmaniasis), and the intestinal parasites Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica, depend on farnesylated proteins for growth... 

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