African Sleeping Sickness News and Research

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African trypanosomiasis is also known as sleeping sickness. There are two types of African trypanosomiasis, East and West, named for the region of Africa in which they were historically found. People can get the disease if they are bitten by an infected tsetse fly, which is only found in Africa. Treatment is available for African trypanosomiasis, but it is fatal if left untreated.

NIH awards $7.6 million grant to advance polyaminopathy research

A first-of-its-kind NIH grant was awarded to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Corewell Health. Co-investigators André Bachmann, PhD, MS, professor and associate chair for research in the MSU Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, and Caleb Bupp, MD, FACMG, division chief of Medical Genetics and Genomics at Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, will advance understanding of how polyaminopathies work.

29 Sep 2026

Researchers discover critical vulnerability shared by pathogens causing tropical diseases

Researchers working with Professor Ralf Erdmann at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, have discovered a critical vulnerability shared by the pathogens that cause African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis.

27 Feb 2026

Groundbreaking discovery could transform leishmaniasis treatment

Leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease prevalent across 90 countries, affects approximately 12 million people worldwide, with 350 million more at risk of infection.

24 Sep 2025

Researchers target weakness in pathogens causing tropical diseases

Researchers are zeroing in on the Achilles’ heel of pathogens that cause Chagas disease, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis.

8 May 2025

Researchers create detailed 3D map of parasite behind sleeping sickness

Millions of people worldwide are affected by African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and other life-threatening infections caused by microscopic parasites borne by insects such as the tsetse fly.

23 Apr 2025

Study unveils mechanisms behind antigenic variation in pathogens

A new study by LMU and Helmholtz Munich shows how pathogens control changes in their cell surface to evade the immune system.

14 Mar 2025

Solving a decades-long puzzle in leishmaniasis drug development

A breakthrough in understanding how a single-cell parasite makes ergosterol (its version of cholesterol) could lead to more effective drugs for human leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that afflicts about 1 million people and kills about 30,000 people around the world every year.

20 Dec 2024

Understanding the metabolic changes from birth to diagnosis of autism

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shed new light on the changes in metabolism that occur between birth and the presentation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) later in childhood.

10 May 2024

Existing drug could be repurposed to treat type 1 diabetes, study suggests

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that causes the body's immune system to attack and destroy insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Traditional management of type 1 diabetes has primarily involved replacing the missing insulin with injections which, though effective, can be expensive and burdensome.

1 Nov 2023

Repurposing of DFMO could lead to innovative therapies for type 1 diabetes

A recent study led by Indiana University School of Medicine in collaboration with the University of Chicago Medicine presents exciting future possibilities for the management of type 1 diabetes and the potential reduction of insulin dependency.

1 Nov 2023

How African sleeping sickness melts away body fat: New study sheds light on the role of lipolysis

Researchers find that the T. brucei parasite, responsible for African trypanosomiasis, triggers weight loss by disrupting fat cell lipolysis. The study shows that ATGL enzyme is key to this process, potentially offering a new angle for future research and treatment.

17 Oct 2023

Scientists discover new details about RNA editing in single-celled, disease-causing parasite

As molecular biologists at Boston University and as husband and wife, Ruslan Afasizhev and Inna Afasizheva, have worked together for decades. Together, they have published dozens of papers on the mechanics of mitochondrial DNA and RNA in a single-celled, disease-causing parasite called Trypanosoma brucei.

19 Jul 2023

Street theater helps educate Malawians about African sleeping sickness

"Parasite Street Science" is a recent public engagement project by Dr Nicola Veitch and a team of scientists of the University of Glasgow that uses exciting street theatre performances to educate and entertain audiences in the UK and Malawi on the subject of African Sleeping Sickness.

6 Jul 2023

Cyanotriazole compounds can selectively and rapidly kill trypanosome parasites, study shows

Cyanotriazole compounds are fast-acting topoisomerase II poisons that can selectively and rapidly kill trypanosome parasites that cause Chagas disease and African sleeping sickness, according to a new study.

29 Jun 2023

Trial shows acoziborole drug clears body of African sleeping sickness parasites

Researchers evaluate the efficacy and safety of an oral antimicrobial drug acoziborole in patients with human African trypanosomiasis.

4 Dec 2022

Gene variants associated with acute kidney injury in Black veterans hospitalized with COVID-19

Gene variants increased the risk of acute kidney injury and death in veterans of African ancestry who were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

10 Feb 2022

Two genetic risk variants in Black individuals may exacerbate sepsis and COVID-19 severity

Two genetic risk variants that are carried by nearly 40 percent of Black individuals may exacerbate the severity of both sepsis and COVID-19, a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine have found.

16 Nov 2021

APOL1 variant risk may extend to poorer outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 infection

Now, a new study published on the medRxiv* preprint server tests the hypothesis that adverse COVID-19 outcomes are associated with the variants of the APOL1 gene.

4 Nov 2021

Child with Bachmann-Bupp Syndrome successfully treated in just 16 months

Diagnosing a rare medical condition is difficult. Identifying a treatment for it can take years of trial and error. In a serendipitous intersection of research expertise, an ill patient in this case a child and innovative technology, Bachmann-Bupp Syndrome has gone from a list of symptoms to a successful treatment in just 16 months.

20 Jul 2021

New drug target valid for breast cancer as well as lymphoma

One more piece of the puzzle has fallen into place behind a new drug whose anti-cancer potential was developed at the University of Alberta and is set to begin human trials this year, thanks to newly published research.

21 Jan 2021