sleeping-sickness

A person with sleeping-sickness lies in a hospital bed.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A disease caused by trypanosomes: "sleeping-sickness" is a tropical disease transmitted by the tsetse fly, characterized by fever, headaches, and joint pains, followed by neurological symptoms such as extreme drowsiness, confusion, and sleep disturbances.
   • A neurological disorder: In a broader sense, "sleeping-sickness" can refer to any condition that causes excessive sleepiness or coma, but medically it specifically denotes African trypanosomiasis.

Usage Examples

• (A specific tropical disease caused by parasites.)
• (The progression of the illness.)

Advanced Usage

• "to have sleeping-sickness": to be infected with the disease.

  • The village reported several cases of sleeping-sickness, prompting a health campaign. (An outbreak of the parasitic infection.)

• "sleeping-sickness epidemic": a widespread occurrence of the disease.

  • The sleeping-sickness epidemic in the early 20th century caused many deaths in Central Africa. (A historical outbreak.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sleepy-sickness (n): an alternative name for the same disease.

  • The term sleepy-sickness is less common but refers to the same condition. (A synonym for sleeping-sickness.)

• Sleeping (adj): the state of being asleep or inactive.

  • The sleeping patient showed no signs of waking. (Not directly related to the disease, but part of the compound.)

Synonyms

• African trypanosomiasis: the medical term for the disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei.
• Nagana: a similar disease in animals, also caused by trypanosomes.

Related Idioms

• None: "sleeping-sickness" is a specific medical term and does not appear in common idioms. However, the word "sleeping" in other contexts may appear in idioms like "sleeping like a log" (sound asleep), but these are not related to the disease.