The Fatal Sleep

by Kennedy, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781905222674
• ISBN10: 190522267X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: Luath Press Ltd

Summary

The bite of the tsetse fly - a burning sting into the skin - causes a descent into violent fever and aching pains. Severe bouts of insomnia are followed by mental deterioration, disruption of the nervous system, coma and ultimately death. Sleeping sickness, also known as human African trypanosomiasis, is one of Africa's major killers. It puts 60 million people at risk of infection, occurs in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and claims the lives of many thousands of people every year.

Author Biography

Professor Peter Kennedy holds the Burton Chair of Neurology at Glasgow University. The only neurologist working on the disease, he is the world's leading expert on the topic, and has spent much of his career devoted to raising awareness of sleeping sickness in Africa and beyond. He has made over 20 field visits to Africa in the last 10 years

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xvii
Kindling the Flame	p. 1
An Opportunity Arises	p. 3
Copper Mines and Spitting Cobras	p. 24
The Fly and the Mouse	p. 59
The Problem of Sleeping Sickness	p. 61
Africa Revisited	p. 83
Sleeping Sickness in the Human Patient	p. 104
The Mouse Model of Sleeping Sickness	p. 128
A Meeting with the Animal Reservoirs	p. 149
Fear and Wonder in Africa	p. 172
Hope for the Future	p. 185
Further Afield and the Ugandan Dimension	p. 187
Future Priorities and Challenges for a Cinderella Disease	p. 200
Postscript	p. 219
Sources and Notes	p. 221
Glossary of Medical and Scientific Terms	p. 241
Index	p. 257
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