A man in his sixties with life-threatening febrile illness after travel abroad. / Ein mann i 60-åra med livstrugande febersjukdom etter utanlandsreise.

ABSTRACT

Background: African sleeping sickness is a neglected tropical disease seldom seen in European travellers. Case presentation While working in Eastern Africa, a Norwegian man in his sixties developed weakness and fever. He was prescribed doxycycline after a negative malaria rapid test. On the third day of illness he returned to Norway and was admitted to the hospital upon arrival. On admission he was somnolent with fever, tachypnoea, tachycardia, jaundice, a hyperaemic rash, oliguria and haematuria. Blood tests revealed leukopenia, thrombocytopaenia, renal failure and liver dysfunction. Rapid tests were negative for malaria and dengue. Blood microscopy revealed high parasitaemia with trypanosomes indicating human African sleeping-sickness. He had been bitten by a tsetse fly 11 days prior in an area endemic for Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. However, the clinical picture was consistent with Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection (East African sleeping sickness). Four days after starting treatment with suramin, spinal fluid examination revealed mild mononuclear pleocytosis but no visible parasites. Melarsoprol treatment for possible encephalitis was considered but suramin treatment was continued alone. He improved and remains healthy seven years later. PCR on blood was positive for T. b. rhodesiense. Interpretation: African sleeping sickness can also affect tourists to endemic areas. Onset can be acute, life-threatening and requires treatment with antiparasitic drugs not generally available in Norwegian hospitals.