A disease that puts you through thee ultimate sleep; first a coma, and then you never wake up.
It sounds like a scene from a horror movie, or a made-up disease you might read in a book, but there is nothing fictional about the sleeping sickness. This sickness is caused by a parasite called a trypanosoma parasite. These parasites live in an insect called the tsetse fly, which is similarly-looking to a housefly but has the diet of a mosquito - namely, human blood. When the tsetse fly goes to drink from an unsuspecting human, it unwittingly releases the trypanosoma into the human's bloodstream. The parasites eat at the human's red blood cells, multiplying and devouring more and more cells as they reproduce. Eventually, the loss of the cells results in a coma. The parasites continue eating the cells throughout the coma, until the patient eventually passes on.
The sleeping sickness got it name from the results of lost red blood cells; fatigue, and physical weakness, rendering patients stuck in bed and unable to wake up. This is starting to be a huge problem in Africa, because most people in rural areas are exposed to the tsetse fly, and the disease can be passed on through blood-to-blood contact, such as a pregnant women transferring the disease to their child, a hospital using a contaminated needle, or having another insect bite a diseased and in turn transfer it to others. Epidemics of this disease are breaking out ,with symptoms including fever, headaches, joint pain, itching, confusion, poor coordination, and disturbance of the sleep cycle.
Thankfully, the tsetse fly is not found in the US, and treatments are being made to fight against the sleeping sickness. If you were in Africa, how would YOU avoid the sleeping sickness?
Wow. Hard core stuff. That has got to be so devastating, all those people loosing family members. I couldn't imagine loosing one of my family members or friends. That is just terrible. If I was in Africa right now, I would take as many precautions as possible. I would use bug spray, wear protective clothing, use bed nets, and try to stay away from anyone showing signs of the disease. I still can't believe that a parasite so small could take so many lives. Could you imagine waking up and finding half your village sick and dyeing?
ReplyDeleteP.S (sorry one more thing) Around 300,000 people die each year from this disease! The city of Lansing has around 114,000 people. So if you imagine all the people who live in Lansing times three you would have about how many people die each year from this disease (give or take 42,000). This disease is absolutely devastating.
ReplyDeleteWow, That is some scary stuff. I like what you did by adding the Lansing population figure as a way of making it more real.
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