Researchers Try to Control Sleeping Sickness in Africa

Michigan State University Will Be Creating a Model to Show When and Where the Next Outbreak Will Occur

Michigan State University researchers are beginning a new study on the fatal "sleeping sickness," or trypanosomiasis, in Kenya in order to develop a new model to predict when and where the next outbreak will occur.

"Sleeping sickness" is caused by the tsetse fly found in certain regions of Africa. The tsetse fly is parasitic and feeds off of blood from vertebrae, people and animals alike. When the insect takes a bite to feed, it injects parasites into the lymphatic system; the parasites then pass into the bloodstream.

A bite from the fly causes fever, headache, joint pains, and swollen lymph nodes. If untreated, the parasites will pass through the blood-brain barrier and cause neurological difficulties such as confusion, lack of coordination, extreme fatigue, and eventually comma and death. The disease can be spread from person to person several different ways: from mother to unborn child, from handling an infected person's blood, through transferring the blood in an infected person into another person through blood transfusion, and through transplanting the organs of an infected person into another person.

There have been three major epidemics of the disease over the past hundred years. The first was between 1896 and 1906, the second was in 1920, and the third was in 1970. Each year, 300,000 new people become infected with "sleeping sickness.

The Michigan State University study will be a four-year project and will analyze climate change in Kenya, how land is used in Kenya, and where the tsetse fly is located. The study will be lead by Associate Professor of Geography Joseph Messina.

The goal will be to create a model that will actually predict the locations where people and animals will be at risk for being infected with the disease.

The project will be an interdisciplinary health research study, which will require expert research in climatology, entomoly, and epidemiology.

The project was first thought up in February 2006 when Dr. Messina and other researchers from Michigan State University met in Nairobi to brainstorm research topics that were related to Africa.