Human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is a widespread tropical disease that can be fatal if not treated. It is spread by the bite of an infected tsetse fly and is characterized by bouts of fever, swollen lymph glands, aching muscles and joints, headaches and itching.
In advanced stages, sleeping sickness attacks the central nervous system causing confusion, irritability, sensory disturbances, difficulty walking and talking, and disturbances of the sleep cycle, which gives the disease its name.
Sleeping sickness is a vector-borne parasitic disease that is capable of causing explosive outbreaks particularly in remote areas. It only occurs in 36 countries of the African Region and places over 60 million people at risk.
Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (T.b.g.) is found in 24 countries in the Region and accounts for more than 98% of reported cases. Sustained control efforts have lowered the number of new cases reported to 6743 in 2011 and 7197 in 2012 respectively.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the only country that has reported more than 1000 new cases annually and accounts for 83% of the cases reported in 2012. Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan declared between 100 and 500 new cases in 2012.