Dr. Valverde went expressly from Ginebra, where he leads the Clinic Proyect in African Trypanosomiasis of the DNDi, to share his knowledge on this illness with the students of the master’s degree in Tropical Parasitic Diseases of the UV.

His conference of the 27 October 2022 concerned the African Trypanosomiasis —also called sleeping sickness— and its forms, depending on the subspecies and on the causative parasite. The parasites that cause it are protozoa of the Trypanosoma genre. They are transmitted to humans through the bite of a tsetse fly (of the Glossina genre) infected for other humans or animals that have human pathogenic parasites.

The lectures explained the clinical differences between T. brucei gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense, and highlighted the promising new pharmacological products, which have appeared recently, and even some are still in development, for its proper treatment.

In addition, students enjoyed viewing a 15 minutes film about the Dr. Jamot mission in Camerún.

With more than 20 years of field experience in developing countries, Dr. Olaf Valverde currently leads the Clinic Project about the African Trypanosomiasis of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi). This is a not-for-profit organisation that, depending on the patient’s needs, focuses on the research and development (R&D) of medicines for neglected diseases.