New treatment for sleeping sickness

Health authorities have introduced a new treatment for trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, in the eastern province of Haut Mbomou in the Central African Republic (CAR), an official told IRIN on Saturday. Dr Carlos Recio, the coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the CAR, said the new drug had been introduced after a significant percentage of patients developed resistance to Melarsoprol, the drug that had previously been used. The new drug, Eflornithine, which patients are receiving free of charge, was introduced under an initiative of MSF, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) and the CAR health ministry through its national anti-trypanosomiasis programme. Recio said MSF had been supporting the activities of the national programme in Haut Mbomou, which has had the highest prevalence rate of 1.8 percent since 2001. He added that the change to Elflornithine from Melarsoprol, an arsenic by-product discovered in the 1940s, had been made because the latter "has dangerous side effects on the patients with death risk of 5 percent". Moreover, Recio said, 21 percent of patients under Melarsoprol had developed resistance to the drug. "This led us to change the treatment," he said. He added that Eflornithine had fewer side effects and was successfully being used in other African countries. MSF recently completed trypanosomiasis screening in the town of Zemio in Haut Mbomou, where 30,000 people or 85 percent of the total population were screened and 0.93 percent found to be affected. "In addition to the treatment, MSF is rehabilitating health infrastructures in Haut Mbomou," Recio said. "This is to guarantee hygiene and the area's sanitation." "Trypanosomiasis is rampant in Africa, yet [it is] neglected by the international community," Recio said. He added that WHO and MSF had undertaken considerable lobbying in Europe to ensure that the drug was provided free until 2006. "The quantity of drugs to be administered is considerable," Recio said. He said a patient required 56 sachets of chloride sodium perfusions, catheters and other drugs to alleviate side effects of the treatment. "In CAR, patients cannot afford such treatment, that's why MSF is supplying them freely," he added. In CAR, the zones affected by trypanosomiasis include the province of Haut Mbomou, Ouham, Sangha Mbaere and Lobaye, where the disease is breaking out again after 50 years.