It begins with the innocent bite of a tsetse fly – an all too common occurrence in sub-Saharan Africa.
Before humans knew it, tiny microscopic parasites known as Trypanosoma swims in their blood and plays “hide and seek” with their immune system.
For months or even years, these ribbon-like single-celled leisures do not cause any symptoms, quietly preparing to conquer the “boss” of the body.
When the parasites eventually invade the brain, they lodge in the nervous tissue and cause a range of cognitive problems, including personality changes, paranoia, confusion, hallucinations, poor coordination, sensory disturbances, and seizures.
![Parasitic sleeping sickness](https://ticenote.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Were-one-step-closer-to-stopping-the-parasite-from-causing.jpg)
People with the later stages of the infection behave very erratically, to the point where sudden episodes of rage can even put family members at risk of violence.
According to The New York Times.even the gentle touch of water can cause the infected to suddenly feel pain, causing them to scream in pain.
It’s an absolutely terrifying, uncontrollable condition, made even more terrifying by the lack of available treatments. However, if left untreated, this neglected tropical disease can lead to coma and almost always death.
Circadian disturbances, particularly insomnia at night and excessive daytime sleepiness, appear to play a major role.
This is why the infection is called “sleeping sickness” or, more formally, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).
Now there is new hope to eradicate it.
![Sleeping sickness in the brain](https://ticenote.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1686479760_434_Were-one-step-closer-to-stopping-the-parasite-from-causing.jpg)
Scientists have known about HAT for more than a century, but it’s still unclear how the parasite actually invades the human brain.
HAT is caused by two subtypes Trypanosoma endemic in Africa, but most cases today are due to T. brucei gambiense in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This subspecies is often said to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, which is the protective wall that prevents most toxins and pathogens from entering the central nervous system.
Nevertheless, some studies in rodents show this T. b. gambiense can actually cross the blood-spinal cord (BCB), which separates the fluid bathing the brain and spinal cord from the blood-infused tissue.
![Life cycle parasite sleeping sickness](https://ticenote.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1686479760_520_Were-one-step-closer-to-stopping-the-parasite-from-causing.jpg)
Regardless of how the parasite enters the brain, once it gets there, it is very difficult for medicine to target it without causing unwanted damage.
In the past, doctors used toxic treatments like arsenic to rid people of the parasite, resulting in about 5 percent of patients dying.
For many years, the treatment of sleeping sickness has been limited to a few painful injections, sometimes into the spine. Even then, success is not guaranteed. Between 30 and 50 percent of patients treated with this therapy relapse.
A new oral drug tested in clinical trials late last year could be a lifesaver for the hundreds of people in Africa who continue to be diagnosed with the dreaded disease each year.
The medicine needs to be used only once, and its effectiveness cures the disease in 95%.
Even better, there’s a chance it could stop future outbreaks of epidemics, such as those that killed thousands in the 1920s and 1970s, 1980s, and 1980s.
Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) committed to eradicate HAT. Infectious disease specialist Jacques Pépin told NPR 2022 will be “difficult.”
“When you’re trying to eradicate a disease, it’s always difficult to go the last few miles. It’s very difficult to reach the magic number of zero cases,” explained Pépin.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying. The WHO previously aimed to eradicate HAT by 2020. But back then, the only oral medicine for this disease was a 10-day course of treatment.
Compared to other diseases, HAT affects only a small number of people, which means that drug companies have not been motivated to find better treatments.
Public health officials at WHO have been working tirelessly since 2013 to change this.
Thanks to this new and impressive-looking oral medication, experts now say that sleeping sickness is actually going away.
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