Sleep-wake cycle in human African trypanosomiasis.

Sleeping sickness patients are classically described as sleepy by day and restless by night. Prior to this study, we had objectively confirmed this description by recording 24-h sleep patterns in a patient with human African trypanosomiasis. We report 24-h polysomnographic recordings (EEG, electrooculogram, electromyogram, electrocardiogram, and nasal, buccal, and thoracic respiratory traces) performed on two eight-channel electroencephalographs in eight patients with untreated sleeping sickness at an early stage of meningoencephalitis. As in our previously reported patient, there was no hypersomnia. The patients presented mainly a disorganization of the circadian alternation of sleeping and waking, with no or little alteration in the states of vigilance at this early stage of the disease. The disorganization was proportional to the degree of severity of the clinical symptoms. It may be due to an alteration in biological clock mechanisms.