Diagnosis of Rhodesian sleeping sickness in the Lambwe Valley (1980–1984)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In primary Rhodesian sleeping sickness patients, parasitological diagnosis was best performed by rodent inoculation of blood (98·5% +) followed by Giemsa-stained thick blood smears (93·3% +). Parasitological diagnosis in relapse patients was sometimes impossible and clinical diagnosis based on CSF examination was necessary. Early during a disease outbreak in 1980, 89% of the infections were detected by mobile field teams, but once established in the endemic area a stationary diagnostic facility detected most of the cases. A total number of23 751 examinations for Rhodesian sleeping sickness and malaria were made by mobile field teams during 1980–1984; 102 primary cases (0·43%) and 25 (0·10%) relapse cases were diagnosed. A total of 9339 individuals (39%) had patent malaria infections. The IFAT was positive in 89% of the primary sleeping sickness patients and 77% of the relapse patients. Seventy-nine per cent of the primary patients were positive in a CFT test, and 77% of the relapse patients were considered positive.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: