Practice question

Trypanosoma brucei subspecies cause African sleeping sickness, transmitted by tsetse fly Glossina. Parasites live extracellularly in blood, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid, evading immunity through antigenic variation of variant surface glycoprotein coat continuously switching. Disease progression includes hemolymphatic stage with fever and lymphadenopathy, followed by meningoencephalitic stage disrupting sleep-wake cycle due to neuroinvasion. Plasmodium causes malaria, Vibrio cholera causes cholera, Mycobacterium causes tuberculosis. Distinct vector-borne life cycle and pathogenesis identifies Trypanosoma with human African trypanosomiasis requiring drug therapy. Transmission occurs in contaminated food, blood transfusion and mother to child, requiring vector control strategies and early antiparasitic treatment.