Something has happened that Petrus Kok , Doug's oldest boy is in ICU getting Dialysis. Has anyone heard what has happened.

From what I have heard he got sleeping sickness from the proficiency exam but they thought it was malaria so treated for malaria. Still didn't get better. Tested for sleeping sickness but came back negative so had another dose of anti malaria. After the 2nd treatment didn't do anything they ran more tests and finally got a positive for the sleeping sickness but his kidneys were failing so could not give him treatment due to kidneys failing so had him on dialysis so improve kidneys while giving him treatment. He was out of ICU the last I heard. Just what I heard so might not be 100% but close enough.

Terrible news!

So now sleeping sickness is in Zimbabwe??

Saeed- we hunted Makuti for a few years and in our last year we saw a great increase in sleeping sickness-Justin my camerman and Blake our Ph got it. 3 of our staff also got it after we left makuti and 2 of them died as it was mistreated thinking it was Malaria. As we stand it seems that that part of the valley as well as Rifa are the main areas but it may very well spread and our Tsetse department is totally ineffectual!

Sorry to hear that about Petrus, He was a small boy when I met him and you could already tell he was a keen naturalist and hunter.

quote:

Originally posted by Buzz Charlton:
Saeed- we hunted Makuti for a few years and in our last year we saw a great increase in sleeping sickness-Justin my camerman and Blake our Ph got it. 3 of our staff also got it after we left makuti and 2 of them died as it was mistreated thinking it was Malaria. As we stand it seems that that part of the valley as well as Rifa are the main areas but it may very well spread and our Tsetse department is totally ineffectual!

How sad to hear this.

I remember to never see a tse tse fly in Zimbabwe, and the sad part is there is no protection!!?

Petrus was out of ICU for a few days and is back in , i believe pnuemonia , his body has taken a proper hiding , The Makuti area for a few years now has been a problem and have heard from some farmers in the Karoi area have hassles with tsetse

all the best

I spoke with Tinie, Petrus's brother this morning. Petrus is on the mend and going home today.

Good new indeed.

Sad news

I remember Buzz showing me Tse Tse traps in Makuti.

But as a biologist, I strain to understand how one can misdiagnose sleeping sickness. The diagnostic is the same as Malaria's , a blood smear. And sleeping sickness's Trypanosimia a far bigger and easier to detect that minute trophozoïtes of Malaria????????? let alone clinical signs???????



Trypanosomia in sleeping sickness



Trophozoites in malaria


something fishy, Harare clinics are at European standards.

the Tse Tse fly dosen't allow domestic livestock to survive, preserving areeas for wildlife with out encroachment, that being said I guess it is pretty nasty on us. We were in Rifa in March 13 but had no troubles at that time.

quote:

Originally posted by Buzz Charlton:
Saeed- we hunted Makuti for a few years and in our last year we saw a great increase in sleeping sickness-Justin my camerman and Blake our Ph got it. 3 of our staff also got it after we left makuti and 2 of them died as it was mistreated thinking it was Malaria. As we stand it seems that that part of the valley as well as Rifa are the main areas but it may very well spread and our Tsetse department is totally ineffectual!

When I was in Dande South in August our Resident PH had got it a year or so before and was still recovering.

We got hammered by the little s$&ts so was anxiously awaiting the 2-4 week incubation period to be done.

Good to here that he's going home, here's hoping for a full recovery.

I met Tinie at the Bulawayo Rugby Club when we had to hang around town an extra day because SAA lost my rifle.

I got a message from Tinie today and he says that Petrus is getting better. Although it was touch and go for awhile, it looks like Petrus is out of the worst of it and on the mend.

Good news that.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Terrible news!

So now sleeping sickness is in Zimbabwe??

Trypanosomiasis aka African Sleeping Sickness has always been a threat in Zimbabwe...my friend Nigel Theisen's grandfather died from it in Zim in the 1950's or 60's.

It does seem that that Makuti region is a true hot zone for a virulent strain of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. Trypanosoma brucei gambiense is the more common human strain and accounts for ~98% of human cases but comes from central Africa...only Uganda has both strains.

While they easily told apart on blood smear...the problem is finding one on the smear. When infected with either tryps or malaria...you don't always get a positive smear. In fact for tryps...something like only 1 in 10 smears from infected people are positive...so you play the odds. Statistically, malaria is hugely more likely.

By medical standards, blood smear diagnostics are really antiquated and things like "ELISA" tests are much much more efficient in making the correct diagnosis sooner.

Problem is that tryps is such an isolated and rare diagnosis when you look at global diseases...it gets little R&D money spent on it for rapid test development...making Drs. rely on blood smears.