Part 4: Diagnosis Continued
When doctors looked at Robert’s blood smear under a light microscope, they did NOT see any malaria parasites. However, they did make a startling discovery. “I found Trypanosoma brucei parasites in the patient’s blood,” one of the doctors remarked. “What is Trypanosoma brucei? ” asked a nurse. “Is it a type of malaria?”“Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite. It is not closely related to Plasmodium falciparum genetically, but there are many similarities in the way it infects people and in the symptoms it causes. The disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei, called African trypanosomiasis, is also known as African sleeping sickness. All of the patient’s symptoms are explained
by this diagnosis.”
Use the CDC website to research T. brucei and compare it to the malaria picture.
How are they similar? How are they different?