[Sleeping sickness in German travelers to the tropics]

A brother and sister (the latter having been resident in Ruanda for three years) fell ill with African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) after a two-day safari in the Akagera National Park. Cardinal symptoms were fever, lymphadenopathy and the typical primary lesion (trypanosomal chancre). The diagnosis was confirmed by demonstrating trypanosomes in the peripheral blood. There was no CNS involvement in either case. Administration of suramin, 1 g weekly intravenously for six weeks, quickly brought about regression of the symptoms and the parasitaemia. According to the number of cases reported since 1970, the risk for German travellers to certain African areas of contracting trypanosomiasis is about 0.3 per 100,000. Since in Africa the incidence of the disease is increasing, in some parts considerably, one must reckon with an increasing risk for tourists.