Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Recent developments in human African trypanosomiasis.

Susan C Welburn1, Martin Odiit

  • 1Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland, UK. sue.welburn@ed.ac.uk

Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases
|April 11, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The burden of hepatitis E virus infection among Ghanaian pregnant women.

Frontiers in public health·2025
Same author

Will Technology Rather Than Vaccination Be the Way to Control Pandemics?

Infectious microbes & diseases·2024
Same author

If You're Not Confused, You're Not Paying Attention: <i>Ochrobactrum</i> Is Not Brucella.

Journal of clinical microbiology·2023
Same author

Economic implications of COVID-19 for the HIV epidemic and the response in Zimbabwe.

African journal of AIDS research : AJAR·2022
Same author

Healthcare Management of Human African Trypanosomiasis Cases in the Eastern, Muchinga and Lusaka Provinces of Zambia.

Tropical medicine and infectious disease·2022
Same author

Editorial: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Pathophysiology, Epidemiology, Clinical Management and Public Health Response, Volume II.

Frontiers in public health·2022

Sleeping sickness is a growing threat in Africa, with drug resistance complicating treatment. New molecular tools are helping understand disease spread and identify new diagnostics and drugs.

Area of Science:

  • Epidemiology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Tropical Medicine

Background:

  • Sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease, causes approximately 100,000 deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Recent epidemics of the Gambian form in South Sudan, DRC, and Angola, and the Rhodesian form in East African travelers highlight the disease's resurgence.
  • Drug resistance to melarsoprol is increasingly compromising treatment efficacy for Gambian sleeping sickness.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review molecular tools enhancing the understanding of sleeping sickness epidemiology.
  • To highlight the ongoing search for novel diagnostics and therapeutics to combat the disease.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing molecular techniques, specifically targeting the human serum resistance (SRA) gene.
  • Identifying parasites within the domestic animal reservoir.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Molecular tools have identified the human infective parasite in cattle, revealing the northward spread of the Rhodesian form in Uganda.
  • The prevalence of Gambian sleeping sickness exceeds 5% in endemic areas, with melarsoprol treatment failure rates reaching 26.9% in some regions.
  • The convergence of Gambian and Rhodesian sleeping sickness distributions poses significant challenges for disease control and treatment strategies.

Conclusions:

  • Molecular advancements are crucial for a deeper understanding of sleeping sickness epidemiology.
  • The development of new diagnostics and drugs is essential to address the growing threat of drug resistance and disease spread.