DIAGNOSIS
African Trypanosomiasis can be diagnosed in three steps:
- Screening for possible infection. This entails employing serological tests (possible only for T. b.gambiense) and looking for clinical symptoms, particularly enlarged cervical lymph nodes.
- Diagnosis can be done by examining if the parasite is present in bodily fluids.
- The procedure of identifying the stage of progression of the disease. This includes a clinical examination as well as the investigation of CSF fluid collected by lumbar puncture in certain circumstances.
To prevent expensive and dangerous therapeutic procedures, a diagnosis must be established as soon as possible to avoid moving to the neurological stage.
TREATMENT
Treatment options for sleeping sickness depend on the parasite’s subspecies and the illness’s stage. Stage one disease requires less invasive and harmful treatment methods than more advanced infections.
Stage One Treatments
In the early stages of African trypanosomiasis, the disease is often treated with two different antimicrobial medications:
- Pentamidine. Patients with stage one West African sleeping sickness are treated with pentamidine, which is given intravenously or injected.
- Suramin. East African sleeping sickness is treated with the intravenous administration of suramin.
Stage Two Treatments
If an infection has already crossed the blood-brain barrier, one of the following three medications should be used to treat it:
- Eflornithine. Patients with stage two West African sleeping sickness are treated with eflornithine. For two weeks straight, it is given intravenously four times every day.
- Melarsoprol. The second stage of East African sleeping sickness can only be treated with this drug, which also works to treat West African sleeping sickness.
- Nifurtimo. Nifurtimox is often used with eflornithine to treat West African sleeping sickness, although it is typically used to manage American trypanosomiasis (commonly known as Chagas disease).