To the Editor:—
Sleeping sickness imported from Africa has been reported infrequently in this country.1-3 Nevertheless, Rhodesian and Gambian trypanosomiasis still exists in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and visitors to endemic areas may be exposed to infected tsetse flies. This report describes a patient with imported African trypanosomiasis diagnosed and treated in Florida. To our knowledge, this is the only instance recently in which the diagnosis was made after the patient's return to the United States.
Report of a Case:—
A 57-year-old white dentist returned to Florida in October 1968 from safari in Rhodesia and Botswana with an acute illness characterized by fever, chills, lethargy, malaise, axillary lymphadenopathy, and a skin lesion on the right forearm. The patient had spent two weeks hunting and camping in the bush, where he was bitten by numerous tsetse flies (Glossina sp). He received amodiaquine for malaria chemoprophylaxis, but as is common