Sleeping sickness : a Zimbabwean disease

Tsetse Fly

When referring to the sorry state of the country, people often speak of "the Zimbabwean crisis" (singular). Indeed there is a single cause of the multi-layered crisis that now besets the unfortunate people of this land, and that is to be located in ZANU PF's prolonged misrule. But although the cause is one, the crises (plural) it has spawned are many. There is a severe crisis in the economy for instance, as in manufacturing, as in agriculture, in education, health care and so on. In fact just about every sector of the national life is plunged into deep crisis right now. They are of course inter-related crises and together contribute to the collective sense of pain shared by all save the ruling elite who cushion themselves with the privileges of power, Mugabe-style. More accurately therefore we should perhaps speak of the "Zimbabwean crises" (plural) except when referring to the central crisis of misrule.

One of the many crises which receives considerably less attention than it deserves is the health time bomb which is ticking away as traditional disease control measures are abandoned, essentially for lack of funds.

Take the dreaded disease of sleeping sickness for example - African Trypanosomiasis to give it its proper title. This is a slow, wasting illness characterized by fever and inflammation of the lymph nodes, leading to profound lethargy that frequently ends in death; in other words, a most unpleasant way to die. The disease is spread by the bite of the tsetse fly. Wildlife is generally immune to the disease but, along with humans, domestic animals are also susceptible. The symptoms in dogs for example are particularly distressing as their nervous systems are attacked progressively. They tend to go blind, give way to involuntary howling, and die in great pain.

Certain low-lying areas in Zimbabwe, such as along the course of the Zambezi River, have always been known to be at risk because of the prevalence of tsetse fly. Before the advent of insecticides this had a natural limiting effect upon human habitation and cattle rearing in these areas. However once the cause of the disease was understood, and effective preventative measures put in place (through spraying and maintaining extensive clearings around human settlement), these regions could be settled without undue risk. This is what happened with the building of Kariba and the development of the tourist industry along the shores of the lake and beyond.

The Department of Veterinary Services established check points at strategic points along the road networks to ensure that vehicles entering and leaving known tsetse areas might be sprayed to keep the disease in check. Clearing and spraying programmes around villages and tourist areas were routine and, through vigilance, cases of sleeping sickness became extremely rare even in areas afflicted with the dreaded tsetse fly. But that is no more.

Today the disease is rampant again across a huge swathe of prime tourist resorts in huge triangle between Chirundu and Makuti to the north and east of Kariba, to the Omay Communal Lands far out to the west. Ever since the European Union (EU) funding of the Department of Veterinary Services' control programme came to an end some five years ago, and with it the cessation of all preventative measures, the inhabitants of this vast area, including tourists, have been sitting on a time bomb.

This week our reporter discovered that sleeping sickness has already claimed its first victims, and as it moves on unchecked it may soon claim many more. The facts are difficult to establish because there is almost a conspiracy of silence by those with vested interests in the tourist trade - already decimated because of other crises, including the chronic fuel shortage. But there was a death attributable to the disease just last year from the Charara Safari Area, the unfortunate victim being flown to South Africa for treatment but dying because the disease was not diagnosed in time. More recently a hunter and four of his assistants in the Makuti hunting area are believed to have contracted the disease, though their condition was diagnosed in time to save their lives with the appropriate treatment. There could well have been many more fatalities that have passed unrecorded among the local population.

A visit to Kariba quickly confirms that tsetse flies are breeding in huge numbers immediately adjacent to areas of human settlement. The government, bankrupt of both cash and ideas to fight the killer scourge, is doing nothing. One might at least have expected warnings to be posted to local residents and visitors but, as the menace continues to grow daily, there are no warnings to be seen anywhere: no warnings, no prophylactics, no preventative measures.

Our reporter spoke to several Kariba residents who are alarmed at the spread of the disease, including one who has treated a number of infected dogs. Over the past two years he confirmed a "huge number" of dogs have succumbed, 16 dying in the last two weeks alone. Moreover, given the paucity of veterinary services available to monitor the disease, this can only be regarded as the tip of the iceberg. "It is", said our informant, "completely out of hand, not only in Kariba itself but from Chirundu to Omay and very likely, beyond".

To our minds the most alarming feature of the recurrence of the once-conquered sleeping sickness is the lack of concern shown by those charged with disease prevention in Zimbabwe. Granted that, through no fault of their own, the Department of Veterinary Services lacks the resources to combat the spread of the disease, we would at least have expected them, and the responsible health and tourist authorities, to warn of the huge danger to health now posed to unwary residents and visitors. Otherwise it is not so much a case of sleeping sickness as "sleeping is the sickness" - the sickness of all who are too afraid to sound the alarm.