[LUM#15] Loan, age 10: When you have sleeping sickness, do you sleep all the time?
That's an excellent question, and one that can't be answered with either a "yes" or a "no", because it depends on the stage of the disease, which requires some explanation.
Sleeping sickness, also known as human African trypanosomiasis, is caused by a parasite, the trypanosome. A kind of microscopic worm transmitted by a well-known insect: the tsetse fly. When this insect bites a human, the parasite takes advantage of the opportunity to enter the body. It then lives in our bloodstream, where it can remain for several years, causing fever or headaches, but not sleep disturbance.
Until, without really knowing when or why (a question researchers are still trying to answer), the trypanosomes settle in our brain and prevent us from sleeping properly. As a result, the patient stops sleeping at night and sleeps during the day. Over time, trypanosomes cause many other problems, and sufferers can die if left untreated.
Fortunately, there are treatments! But to treat people, we need to spot the disease as early as possible, which is sometimes complicated because the first symptoms are the same as for many other diseases, and because trypanosomiasis often occurs in areas of Africa where there are few doctors.
Another control method is to reduce the number of tsetse flies to limit the number of bites and the risk of transmission of the parasite to humans. Researchers have developed traps made of black and blue fabric, because these colors attract flies. They are covered with insecticides and placed around villages to protect inhabitants.
The researchers applied these methods in Côte d'Ivoire, an African country that has been particularly hard hit by human African trypanosomiasis. This was a great success, as it virtually eliminated the disease: between 2015 and 2019 only 9 patients were recorded in this country.
A victory, but research must not rest on its laurels, or sleeping sickness could reawaken. Fortunately, scientists are setting up surveillance systems to get rid of this scourge for good, so that people can finally sleep in peace!
Vincent Jamonneau, parasitologist at the Interactions hôtes-vecteurs-parasites dans les infections par trypanosomatideae laboratory - Intertryp - (IRD, CIRAD)
Listen to the A l'UM la science episode Towards the end of sleeping sickness? with Vincent Jamonneau
An article in partnership with The Conversation website.
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