The Burden of Human African Trypanosomiasis |
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| Authors: | Eric M. Fèvre Beatrix v. Wissmann Susan C. Welburn Pascal Lutumba |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.; 2. Centre for Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Summerhall, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.; 3. Programme National de Lutte contre la Trypanosomiase Humaine Africaine, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.; 4. Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.;London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness) is a protozoan parasitic infection caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense or Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. These are neglected tropical diseases, and T.b. rhodesiense HAT is a zoonosis. We review current knowledge on the burden of HAT in sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), data sources, and methodological issues relating to the use of this metric for assessing the burden of this disease. We highlight areas where data are lacking to properly quantify the impact of these diseases, mainly relating to quantifying under-reporting and disability associated with infection, and challenge the HAT research community to tackle the neglect in data gathering to enable better evidence-based assessments of burden using DALYs or other appropriate measures. |
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