Kenya has eradicated sleeping illness as a public well being drawback, the World Well being Group introduced on Friday, making it the tenth nation to take action.
The vector-borne illness, formally referred to as human African trypanosomiasis, is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. With out therapy, HAT is usually deadly, the WHO says.
Sleeping illness is transmitted to people by way of the bites of tsetse flies which have acquired the blood parasite Trypanosoma brucei from contaminated people or animals.
Rural populations depending on agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry or searching are deemed most liable to publicity.
“I congratulate the federal government and folks of Kenya on this landmark achievement,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated in an announcement.
“Kenya joins the rising ranks of nations releasing their populations of HAT. That is one other step towards making Africa freed from uncared for tropical illnesses.”
The parasites can cross the blood-brain barrier into the central nervous system.
Typically that is when extra apparent indicators and signs of HAT seem, says the WHO: conduct adjustments, confusion, sensory disturbances and poor coordination. Sleep cycle disturbance, which provides the illness its identify, is a outstanding characteristic.
The primary instances in Kenya had been detected within the early twentieth century.
Apart from Kenya, the others which have now eradicated sleeping illness as a public well being drawback are Benin, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Togo and Uganda.
© 2025 AFP
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Kenya has eradicated sleeping illness, says WHO (2025, August 9)
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