Many clinicians outside of Africa are unfamiliar with African Trypanosomiasis. It can be very easy to make the wrong diagnosis.
African trypanosomiasis may be misdiagnosed as:
(1) malaria
(2) systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or other autoimmune disease
(3) Rickettsia infection
Risk factors for misdiagnosis:
(1) presence of concurrent malaria
(2) unfamiliarity with the disorder
(3) lack of a travel history
(4) negative blood smears
(5) negative CSF examination
(6) positive titers for various autoantibodies such as antinuclear antibody (ANA)
(7) false negative PCR
To read more or access our algorithms and calculators, please log in or register.
Specialty: Infectious Diseases