clinical features

Last reviewed 01/2018

  • subcutaneous chancre develops at site of the bite of an infected tsetse fly

  • irregular fevers and weakness

  • lymphadenopathy:
    • especially posterior cervical nodes in T. gambiense infection - Winterbottom's sign

  • other features
    • headache
    • arthralgia
    • weight loss
    • peripheral and pulmonary oedema
    • pericardial effusions
    • ascites
    • nephritis
    • amenorrhoea/impotence

  • late features:

    • CNS disturbance:
      • ataxia
      • dyskinesias
      • dementia
      • hypersomonelence
      • coma

    • psychiatric disturbance:
      • apathy
      • depression
      • reversal of the sleep-wake cycle