ORPHA:3385
African trypanosomiasis
Also known as: Sleeping sickness
Publications
16,965
Trials
23
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
1,129
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
2/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
A rare parasitic disease characterized by infection with the protozoans Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (East African trypanosomiasis) or T. brucei gambiense (West African trypanosomiasis), usually due to the bite of an infected tsetse fly. The first, hemolymphatic stage presents with fever, headaches, fatigue, lymphadenopathy, and aching muscles and joints. In East African trypanosomiasis, the fly bite may develop into a red sore or chancre. This form then progresses to CNS invasion with somnolence and other neurologic and psychiatric symptoms within a few weeks, while West African trypanosomiasis slowly progresses within about 3 years. Both forms are fatal if left untreated.
How rare: How common this is has not been clearly measured.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
- MONDO:0005459
- MeSH:D014353
- UMLS:C0041228
- NCIT:C84541
Additional Mondo synonyms (2)
Africam sleeping sickness · sleeping sickness
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
2/6 stages with a signal
An interventional trial matched this condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov — see trials below.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
16,965 matched papers (6,970 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO
- Animal modelNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance
- Orphan designationNot checked
FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet
- Interventional trialPresent
23 matched on ClinicalTrials.gov (1 recruiting in sample)
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
Not enriched in this build.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
16,965
16,965 papers — among the better-studied rare conditions, though still a fraction of common-disease literature (breast cancer: over 700,000). Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.
16,965 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).
6,970 in the last 10 years · low confidence
Phrase hits: 16,965 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
1,129
Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
People publishing on this condition (sampled Europe PMC records). Affiliation is the most recent found in that sample.
- 01Camara M13 papers · 2026
Programme National de Lutte contre la Trypanosomiase Humaine Africaine, Ministère de la Santé, Conakry, Guinea.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Rock KS12 papers · 2026
Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Tirados I11 papers · 2026
Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Sutherland SA10 papers · 2026
Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), University of Warwick, Academic Loop Road, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05
- 06Bucheton B9 papers · 2026
Intertryp, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Mugenyi A9 papers · 2026
Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Kampala, Uganda.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Torr SJ9 papers · 2026
Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Crump RE8 papers · 2026
Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research (SBIDER), University of Warwick, Academic Loop Road, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Hasker E8 papers · 2026
Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
23
interventional trials for this specific condition
23 interventional trials matched this specific condition name; 1 currently recruiting in our sample. 5 trials are registered for trypanosomiasis, the broader category — shown separately because they may or may not enrol this specific subtype.
Data as of 27 July 2026
23 interventional trials — more than 73% of diseases in the trials denominator have none at all (5114 of 7003; this disease is at the 94.9th percentile).
low confidence · 94.9th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
23 interventional trials matched after quoted-phrase search and title/condition post-filter.
- NCT06356974·NOT YET RECRUITING·Stop Transmission of Gambiense Human African Trypanosomiasis (STROgHAT)
Conditions: Human African Trypanosomiasis·Matched via name phrase
Broader category: trypanosomiasis
5
Interventional trials for the parent category, exclusive of NCT IDs already counted above. Eligibility for this subtype is not guaranteed.
Worth raising with a clinician. How we count trials.
Observational and natural-history studies
3 observational studies match this condition. These do not test a treatment and are not counted in the interventional-trial headline, but they are genuine research: natural-history work often defines the endpoints needed for a future rare-disease trial, and families may be able to enroll.
None of the matched observational studies is currently listed as recruiting.
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"African trypanosomiasis" OR "Sleeping sickness" OR "Africam sleeping sickness"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"African trypanosomiasis" OR "Sleeping sickness" OR "Africam sleeping sickness"
Interventional trials matched via: phrase (mesh = registered under a MeSH descriptor no name phrase would catch; recall-expansion = gene / selected parent terms used only for trials).
Study-type breakdown: 23 interventional · 3 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Parent-category trials query:
"trypanosomiasis"
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
- Publication count (16965) is extremely high with unknown/missing prevalence — treat as possible over-matching, not proven research intensity
Ingested 2026-07-26T23:03:53.539Z