Abstract:
Two patients with African sleeping sickness (SS) presented to
the neurology unit, Pretoria Academic Hospital, during 2004
and 2005. SS has shown a recent resurgence, with epidemics in
the Sudan, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The
number of infected people in Africa is currently estimated at
more than 500 000. According to the World Health Organization
(WHO), about 20 Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and 30 T. b.
rhodesiense infections are diagnosed yearly outside endemic
areas in Africa. Migration, tourism, peacekeeping and military
interventions and the re-emergence of SS epidemics might
increase these numbers.1
The electroencephalogram (EEG) is often useful in the
diagnosis of coma and delirium, but has not been widely used
in the diagnosis of SS. The EEG is proposed as a novel way to
follow disease progression, treatment response and treatmentinduced
encephalopathy.
