sleeping sickness

views updated

sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis) (sleep-ing) n. a disease of tropical Africa caused by the presence in the blood of the parasitic protozoans Trypanosoma gambiense or T. rhodesiense, which are transmitted through the bite of tsetse flies. Initial symptoms include fever, headache, and chills, followed later by enlargement of the lymph nodes, anaemia, and pains in the limbs and joints. The parasites eventually invade the minute blood vessels supplying the central nervous system, causing drowsiness and lethargy.

More From encyclopedia.com