Suzanne O. answered • 11/07/19
International Experience and Multiple State Certifications
I can help you with that answer. I am a malaria carrier.
Both Trypanosoma (the causative agent of sleeping sickness) and Plasmodium (the causative agent of malaria) live inside of human cells during part of their life cycle.
Plasmodium likes to hang out in the liver, and can hide there, dormant, for years. Trypanosoma likes variety, first hanging out in subcutaneous tissues, blood and lymph, then crossing the blood brain barrier to attack the central nervous system.
We can kind of compare these infected cells to cancerous cells in the body. Any treatment to destroy the parasite is toxic to the containing cells as well, just like chemo is toxic. Dosing a cure in either case requires a VERY careful balancing act, or the cure can kill the patient.
Preventative (prophylactic) treatment is best, but only in the short term. The medicines used to prevent infection are toxic to uninfected tissues and they have many nasty side effects that develop over time.
Total vector eradication would be a definitive cure (probably), but it is not a realistic goal and it is not good environmentally for multiple reasons.
Combined preventative measures (prophylactics plus physical barriers like mosquito netting) often work well, but they are not foolproof.
How's that for a short course on tropical diseases?
