Instead, the doctors told Reece a blood test revealed he had contracted Human African trypanosomiasis or “sleeping sickness.” The disease is caused by parasites transmitted by infected tsetse flies. The doctors told Reece they had never come across anyone with the disease before. The drugs, along with other new therapies and diagnostics, could help stamp out sleeping sickness in the next few years. Courtesy of Claude Reece Claude Reece (seen here in the summer of 1995 months after he recovered from sleeping sickness) has had no long-term side effects from the illness. After being released from the hospital, Reece’s doctors told him to take the trip as planned, he said.

Source: Huffington Post January 17, 2017 12:00 UTC