ORGANISM 2--Trypanosoma brucei
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
COMMON NAME
T. brucei gambiense: West African sleeping sickness.
T. brucei rhodesiense: East African sleeping sickness.
PATHOGENESIS
T. brucei gambiense: chronic, lasts for years.
T. brucei rhodesiense: easily cured at circulatory stage; fatal in three to nine months.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
T. brucei gambiense: western and central Africa.
T. brucei rhodesiense: eastern and central Africa; very seldom overlap; one may
replace the other in an area.
HABITAT: Central nervous system, lymph nodes, spleen, and other internal organs.
INTERMEDIATE HOST: Tse-Tse fly, Glossina species.
RESERVOIR HOST: T. brucei gambiense: domestic animals
T. brucei rhkodesinse: Game animals.
INFECTIVE FORM: Metacyclic trypomastigote
MODE OF INFECTION: Bite of Tse-Tse fly.
Figure 1-37. Life Cycle of Trypanosoma brucei. (continued)
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