Sleeping sickness eliminated as public health problem in Guinea

Conakry: Sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease which is generally fatal without treatment, has been eliminated as a public health problem in Guinea, the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) said Thursday.

The disease, also known as Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), is spread by infected tsetse flies and is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Trypanosoma parasite enters the central nervous system, causing symptoms including behaviour changes, confusion, poor coordination and sleep cycle disturbance.

Guinea, which still records cases of the disease, has long been the most affected country in West Africa.

Guinea has fallen "below the threshold for the elimination of the disease as a public health problem (less than one case per 10,000 inhabitants in the three endemic areas)", the IRD said in a statement co-signed by the NGO Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) and the Institut Pasteur in Guinea.

"The Guinean Ministry of Health has had the World Health Organisation (WHO) validate the elimination of HAT in the country in 2024, a year in which only 12 cases of HAT were diagnosed," it added.

The breakthrough was based on improved tsetse fly control, large-scale screening, awareness campaigns, and the development of new, safe and effective drugs, the statement said.

The announcement coincides with World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day.

"On behalf of (ruling junta chief) General Mamady Doumbouya, we welcome this recognition by the WHO", Guinea's Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah told journalists.

"This is fantastic news and a major step forward in our collective efforts to eliminate this terrible and neglected disease", DNDi Executive Director Luis Pizarro was quoted as saying in the statement.

"The effort must continue, with the aim of completely stopping transmission by 2030," added Jean-Mathieu Bart and Bruno Bucheton, eco-epidemiologist and geneticist respectively at the IRD.