Abstract
The results are described of a study of 60 patients with sleeping sickness from north-east Zambia together with 60 hospital controls and 27 nearest-neighbour controls. Eight symptoms were significantly commoner among sleeping-sickness patients than among either set of controls, and some of these symptoms were used to devise a scoring system for use by rural medical personnel. Although most patients reported a short history of the illness, almost 90% had abnormal cerebrospinal fluid, and there was a significant tendency for the cerebrospinal fluid of adults with a longer history of sleeping sickness to contain trypanosomes. Enlargement of lymph nodes was significantly more frequent among the patients than among the controls, but often the submandibular, axillary, or inguinal rather than the posterior cervical nodes were enlarged. Signs associated with involvement of the central nervous system were common, but the cheiro-oral reflex was non-specific, also occurring frequently among hospital controls.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Foulkes J. R. The six diseases WHO. Human trypanosomiasis in Africa. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1981 Oct 31;283(6300):1172–1174. doi: 10.1136/bmj.283.6300.1172. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wurapa F. K., Bulsara M. K., Chen M. G., Wyatt G. B. The public health importance of African trypanosomiasis in north east Zambia. Trop Geogr Med. 1984 Dec;36(4):329–333. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wyatt G. B., Boatin B. A., Wurapa F. K. Risk factors associated with the acquisition of sleeping sickness in north-east Zambia; a case-control study. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1985 Aug;79(4):385–392. doi: 10.1080/00034983.1985.11811936. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]