Medical stakeholders have called for surveillance and awareness in our environment to avert the spread of Human African Trypanosomiasis popularly known in ordinary meaning as Sleeping Sickness.
The stakeholders at a communique issued at the end of their meeting at the Vaccine Research Centre of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus unanimously agreed that there is inadequate surveillance and awareness of HAT in Enugu state and environs, and resolved to collaborate to improve sensitization of medical personnel with regards to high index of suspicion of HAT, and identify suspected cases with the VRC serving as the focal point.
In the communique, Dr Onyinye Chime, as Chairman with five others, arrived at the following Resolutions: There is the need to have well-coordinated HAT surveillance across the state by the State Ministry of Health and partners.
There is a need to harmonize and publicize HAT reporting protocols by health authorities for clarity and efficacy.
There is a need to improve access to appropriate diagnostic tools for HAT in Nigeria by health authorities.
Surveillance kits should be validated in Nigeria by the Ministry of Health before deployment for field use to ensure sensitivity.
Capacity building and sensitization workshops should be organized for health workers by the health authorities and partners to improve case detection.
Researchers should be encouraged to conduct, publish, and disseminate their findings to improve data availability from Enugu state and Nigeria.
The stakeholders identified the need to liaise with the WHO state office and other local and international organizations for the requisite resources to curb the possible resurgence of HAT in Enugu State and Nigeria.
The stakeholders decided that periodic meetings should be convened to discuss progress and disseminate findings.
The stakeholders meeting was conveyed by the Vaccine Research Centre (VRC), University of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Enugu State Ministry of Health and Partners convened a stakeholders’ meeting on the state of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT)/Sleeping Sickness in Enugu state on 10th December 2024.
The main objective of the stakeholders meeting was, among others, to disseminate the results of the research findings on the occurrence of undiagnosed and unreported clinical HAT cases in Enugu State.
To recommend the next steps towards the achievement of WHO’s HAT elimination targets through improved case detection and reporting in Enugu State.
Following the presentation of the research findings by the VRC, the stakeholders deliberated on the following issues:
Lack of coordinated HAT surveillance in Nigeria, and Enugu State in particular.
The disparity between WHO data and research reports in the literature leads to a lack of attention to the disease in Nigeria.
Limited access to field surveillance kits for detecting HAT cases.
Unreliability of some diagnostic test kits for detecting HAT due to differences in the parasite strains occurring in Nigeria.
Lack of awareness and capacity for physicians to suspect and query potential HAT cases due to lack of sensitization and attention to recognize the symptoms.
There is a high probability of misdiagnosis for Malaria due to the similarity of symptoms with Malaria, especially at the early stage.
The meeting was attended by the following critical stakeholders, the Commissioner for Health Enugu State, the Director, the Deputy Director, and a research scientist from VRC Director of Public Health, the NTD Coordinator, the Health Educator, and the Public Relations Officer (PRO) Enugu State Ministry of Health (SMOH) Southeast Zonal Coordinator, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD)Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) Acting Zonal Officer, and the Principal Research Officer, Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR) South East Zonal Office Enugu
Special Adviser on Health to the Enugu State Governor.
The Executive Secretary, and the Director of Disease Control, Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (PHCDA), WHO Enugu State Zonal office Department of Community Medicine, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital Department of Community Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Chairman Enugu State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) on NTDs, Chairman Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Enugu State.
Background:
Sleeping sickness (HAT) is a neglected tropical disease endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It is caused by two subspecies of a protozoa known as Trypanosoma brucei. In West and Central Africa, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes a chronic disease that contributes to about 92% of global reported cases, while Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense causes an acute disease in South and East Africa.
The disease is mainly transmitted through the bite of Tsetse flies (Glossina), but mother-to-child transmission, and transmission through sexual contact have been implicated.
The disease mainly affects rural dwellers and presents with symptoms similar to those of malaria in its early stage, with nervous symptoms such as confusion, seizures, and sleep disorders in the later stages.
The WHO Neglected Tropical Diseases Roadmap targets HAT elimination as a public health problem in 2020 and interruption of its transmission (zero cases) in 2030. Apart from one case detected in the UK from a Nigerian on a visit in 2016, there has been no official report of HAT cases from Nigeria for over a decade.
However, research findings in Enugu State and other parts of Nigeria indicate the continued occurrence of the disease among the populace without medical diagnosis and reporting.
Recently, the Vaccine Research Centre demonstrated the presence of the disease in patients attending a hospital in Enugu state
