Africa Traveler guide
When sleeping is a disease
jmnatividad03
Visitors should be warned against contracting the innocent-sounding, yet very dreaded disease called "sleeping sickness".
Known as the disease that makes people zombies, it is transmitted by the infamous tsetse fly, and is considered in Africa as an epidemic worse than HIV and AIDS.
Early symptoms are seemingly harmless enough, like headaches or itching, until the disease reaches its later stages wherein the parasites have invaded the brain. The infected's speech becomes slurred, finds it impossible to eat, and hardly can get any sleep. In other words, you'll be reduced to a zombie, until you fall into a deep coma and most likely never wake up again.
What's worse is that there is no known effective cure for it, let alone preventive medicines and vaccines - you can even be reinfected if ever you are able to survive the first one.
A common drug used to combat the disease is Melarsoprol, which is however potentailly lethal to use. Another is that many countries in Africa are lacking in medical facilities, or are very hard to reach.
Therefore, it is advisable to bring along some insect repellent on your journeys, and try to cover up as much of your skin as possible especially during nighttime and in the open. It would also be helpful to know where the local hospitals are before heading to a particular place.