Sleeping sickness

World History
Sleeping Sickness
The African sleeping sickness is a disease caused by the contraction of a small parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, and is spread by the tsetse fly. This disease infectsyour brain and can potentially kill you. The tsetse fly looks very similar to the common housefly though their bite is similar to a mosquito bite, only much worse. The tsetse fly cannot survive inclimates that are too hot or too dry. However, there are twenty-three different species of tsetse fly, many of which are capable of living in various climatic conditions, and this adaptation allows fortheir growth which ultimately allows for the spread of the harmful and often deadly sleeping sickness. Because of the large numbers of tsetse flies, spreading of sleeping sickness is an issue inAfrica.
The sleeping sickness originated in Africa. Though most cases are recorded where the disease originated, sleeping sickness has affected nearly 37 countries and around 60 million people.Trypanosomosis has recently been found in South America, where it is transmitted by insects other than the tsetse fly. These do not actually harbor the disease organism in their bodies, but carry infected bloodfrom one animal to the other. Sleeping sickness is a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa and it is estimated that the removal of this disease could double livestock production and markedly increasecultivation levels there. Fortunately, the number of people infected reduces every year, and in 2009 the numbers were the lowest they had been in the past 50 years.
Sleeping sickness is caused byTrypanosoma brucei, an organism that lives in the blood of the host and exists in two sub-species. When a tsetse fly carrying the parasite bites a human, it allows the parasite to pass through the biteinto the host’s bloodstream. There, the organism reproduces, and symptoms gradually develop as the amount of parasites and their harmful effects increases. The parasite may also migrate into the...