Sleeping sickness trypanosomiasis

African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) Tsetse fly The bite of the tsetse fly can be very painful. The disease is treatable, but diagnosis in travelers can be missed... 

Arsenicals in comtemporary medical practice. The clinical use of organic arsenicals is now confined to the treatment of advanced cases of sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) where the brain has become infected. Try-parasamide (6.6) is used because it can penetrate into the central nervous system, presumably as an analogue of phosphoric acid. For cases that resist this drug, melarsoprol 12,4) has been found useful. It is the condensation product of an arsenoxide with 1,2-dimercaptoethane, and is split into its components after passing the blood-brain barrier (Friedheim, 1951). 

In general As " organic derivatives are more toxic than As derivatives. The use of organoarsenicals in medicine dates from the discovery in 1905 by H. W. Thomas that atoxyl (first made by A. Bechamp in 1863) cured experimental trypanosomiasis (e.g. sleeping sickness). In 1907 P. Erlich and A. Bertheim showed that atoxyl was sodium hydrogen 4-aminophenylarsonate... 

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. 

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... 

Both male and female tsetse live solely on vertebrate blood, and the various species that carry sleeping sickness typically feed not only on humans but also on both domestic and wild animals. Infected flies pass on trypanosomes whenever they take a blood meal, so that the parasites not only move between flies and humans, but also infect a number of other hosts. Infected domestic animals develop nagana, but wild animals may show no sign of illness. They serve instead as healthy animal reservoirs of trypanosomes, permitting tsetse flies to pick up the parasites at any time without necessarily feeding on infected humans or domestic animals. For this reason and also because available drug therapies have proved no more practical here than for leishmaniasis, control of trypanosomiasis has long emphasized eradication of tsetse flies. 

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. 

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... 

Human African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness) around 60 million people at risk In sub-Saharan Africa, resulting annually in around 500,000 cases and 50,000 deaths. Fatal if not treated. Most drugs are old and difficult to administer. Until recently the only treatment available for the second-stage of the disease was Melarsoprol, an arsenic-based drug that kills 5 per cent of patients. 

African sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is caused by protists (single-celled eukaryotes) called trypanosomes (Fig. 1). This disease (and related trypanosome-caused diseases) is medically and economically significant in many developing nations. Until recently, the disease was virtually incurable. Vaccines are ineffective, because the parasite has a novel mechanism to evade the host immune system. 

Trichomoniasis. Infection by protozoa usually affecting the genitourinary system. Trypanosomiasis. Infection of the blood of man or animals in tropical countries by protozoa transmitted by blood sucking insects. Examples are African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. Trypanocide a drug for the treatment of trypanosomiasis. Vasomotor relaxation. Relaxation of the walls of blood vessels. 

The minimal infective dose of the parasite needed to acquire Chagas disease is not established in humans. It is known that, for African trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness), the minimal infective dose is 300-450 metacyclic trypomastigotes (Alvarenga and Marsden, 1975). 

Trypanosomiasis [Chagas disease African sleeping sickness] Heart brain many other organs Early stages pentamidine, suramin Later stages melarsoprol Nifurtimox... 

---