# Science Fun: Towards the end of sleeping sickness?
Welcome to the program co-produced by the University of Montpellier andDivergence-FM, which takes you on a cruise through the laboratories of the Muse archipelago. This week we are heading to Côte d'Ivoire, where the government and the WHO have just officially validated the elimination of human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, as a public health problem. We discuss this with Vincent Jamonneau, a parasitologist atIRD in the INTERTRYP team and co-author of an article published last February in Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Today we head to Côte d'Ivoire, where we have some great news: the WHO has just officially validated the elimination of human African trypanosomiasis as a public health problem. I can hear you from here, "Big news, big news, okay! But what is human African trypanosomiasis?" You don't know it, but you are familiar with this disease, and you know it very well... If I mention sleeping sickness and its equally famous vector, the tsetse fly, things become clearer, don't they?
TrypaNo! Program
This disease, endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, is caused by a parasite identified at the very beginning of the 20th century: Bruce's trypanosome, named after its discoverer, Sir David Bruce. This parasite caused three major epidemics in the 20th century, resulting in the deaths of several million people. Although trypanosomiasis has become less prevalent in recent decades, it has not disappeared and continues to infect several hundred people each year in Africa.
In Africa, but more specifically in Côte d'Ivoire, where the national program to eliminate the disease has reduced the number of infections to just nine since 2015. This spectacular result has been achieved thanks to support for research and, in particular, the historic partnership betweenthe Pierre Richet Institute in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Intertryp team, made up of researchers from IRD and CIRAD, and their program called TrypaNO! We discuss this with Vincent Jamonneau, our guest today. He is a parasitologist at IRD, a member of the Intertryp team, and co-authorof a publication released last February in Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases.
For more information:
- A video produced by IRD and the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Côte d'Ivoire on the fight against sleeping sickness.
- An article by Vincent Jamonneau published on The Conversation website
Science is fun, you've got the ticket, let's go!
Production: University of Montpellier - Divergence FM
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault/ Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Adeline Flo’ch
Listen to the program “A LUM LA SCIENCE” on Divergence FM 93.9
