Influence of a past history of Gambian sleeping sickness on physical growth, sexual maturity and academic performance of children in Fontem, Cameroon.

Little has been published on the long-term complications of Gambian sleeping sickness (GSS) following treatment. A case-control study to compare physical growth, sexual maturity and academic performance of children with and without a past history of GSS was therefore conducted. The study took place over a period of 6 months, in the 10 villages of the Fontem GSS focus, which is known to be very endemic for the disease. Overall, 100 young subjects (aged 6-20 years) with a past history of GSS were pair-matched for age (+/- 5 months), sex, place of residence, and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds with 100 other, control subjects who had no history of GSS and who were sero-negative for GSS when checked with a card agglutination test (Testryp-CATT). On average, the cases weighed 4.25 kg less, were 3 cm shorter and had 1.15-cm smaller mid-upper-arm circumferences than the controls (P < 0.05 for each). The mean sexual-maturity rating of the two groups was similar but the controls tended to have attained puberty earlier than the cases. When the cases were subdivided into those treated with melarsoprol and those given pentamidine, only the melarsoprol-treated sub-group was significantly different from the corresponding controls in terms of physical growth and sexual maturity.