South-Carolina
Treatment for acute sleeping sickness has been brutal — until now
Acute sleeping sickness – the treatment is almost as horrific as the disease.
But now there is encouraging news about an oral medication – one that’s also been used for chronic sleeping sickness to great success.
Symptoms for both forms of sleeping sickness start with fever and aches. Then things get worse. The parasite that causes the disease will start to disrupt sleeping patterns and cause aggressiveness and psychosis – that’s how it got its name.
For many years, therapy for both types would begin with a lumbar puncture to see if the parasite has invaded the central nervous system, followed by intravenous injections of a drug toxic to the kidneys and an arsenic-based drug that’s toxic to the brain. Up to 10% of patients would die from the treatment alone. But left untreated, the acute form of sleeping sickness is almost always fatal.
Within the last decade, treatments for the chronic form have become much safer with the use of an oral drug called fexinidazole. But for the roughly 100 people a year who get the acute form, the risky injections were the only option.
Now the European Medicines Agency has given their “positive scientific opinion” on the use of fexinidazole for the treatment of acute sleeping sickness as well. That opinion is based on results from an ongoing clinical trial showing that a 10-day course of pills cures the disease in 97% of patients – and should lead to approval of the drug by countries outside of the EU.
A deadly parasite found in cattle and spread by flies
Both forms of sleeping sickness have always presented tremendous challenges to the medical profession. One of the big concerns is that it’s not easy to diagnose. “It starts with very nonspecific symptoms” like weakness, dizziness, and weight loss, according to Dr. Olaf Valverde, clinical project leader for sleeping sickness at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and a researcher who was part of the fexinidazole trials. He says that because doctors often just treat for the usual suspect for the symptoms: malaria.
How quickly the disease progresses depends on the variant. There’s the gambiense variant of the parasite, which causes the chronic form. It’s found in West and Central Africa, takes months to develop after infection and is responsible for 92% of all sleeping sickness cases, which are now down to under 1,000 per year.
/ Ramon Aandrade 3DCIENCIA/ Science Source
/
Ramon Aandrade 3DCIENCIA/ Science Source
Then there’s the rhodesiense variant, which causes the acute form and is the subject of the new European Medicines Agency opinion. It’s only found in East Africa, with most recent cases in Malawi. This less common form of sleeping sickness only takes weeks to fully develop.
Both parasites are spread by tsetse flies. The chronic form only circulates in humans, so the number of cases is relatively constant year after year, and surveillance programs can effectively track down and treat folks who are infected.
But the acute form has an animal reservoir, which makes surveillance a challenge. Experts know the rhodesiense parasite is always lurking in the animal population and has led to large outbreaks in the human population in the past.
Cattle are considered potential hosts for the parasite but currently it is “confined to game reserve areas,” says Dr. Westain Nyirenda, director of health and social services for the Rumphi district of Malawi and principal investigator in the fexinidazole clinical trial.
Experts think that an outbreak of this acute form of sleeping sickness infected half a million people in 1900 and more recently “there were outbreaks in the late ’80s, where in one year in Uganda, 8,000 people died,” according to Dr. Christian Burri, deputy head of the Department of Medicine at the Swiss Tropical and Public Institute, who was not directly involved in the latest clinical trial. There were outbreaks in the ’90s and 2000s as well.
So even though the number of sleeping sickness infections now seems low, the experts interviewed for this story are all concerned about the possibility of another outbreak – which is why there’s been an emphasis on finding safe and effective drugs to treat acute sleeping sickness.
Using an old drug to treat an old disease
The clinical trials which the European Medicines Agency based their opinion on were independently conducted by Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in collaboration with Sanofi, the company that makes the drug. The drug that was tested, fexinidazole, was actually developed back in the 1970s and has been used over the past decade to treat the chronic form of sleeping sickness.
The reason it took so long to test fexinidazole against the acute form of sleeping sickness is because there are so few cases. This latest trial only had 45 participants, but fexinidazole did cure the disease in 97% of patients.
“We noted one relapse and that is in the report,” says Nyrienda. As a result, specialists in sleeping sickness say that the treatment involving injections “will still have to be there for backup.”
There’s hope for an even better solution on the horizon. Earlier this year, NPR reported on a single-dose oral drug that could cure the chronic form of sleeping sickness; that drug has not yet been tested against the acute form, though there are plans to do so soon.
Low cases and safe drugs doesn’t mean the fight is over
The new treatment option has experts optimistic that the world can eliminate the chronic form of sleeping sickness. But because of the animal reservoir, Nyrienda says that total elimination of the acute form “might not be possible” and that future outbreaks are a real concern.
Other obstacles loom. For one thing, distribution of the medicine to remote areas is a major issue, as is diagnosis. Valverde says that often the sleeping sickness parasite would be discovered “in accidental findings on blood slides taken for malaria suspicion.” The advent of rapid malaria diagnostics means those blood slides aren’t being taken anymore, so new tests for sleeping sickness need to be developed.
Complacency is also a concern. According to Valverde. “The [fewer] cases you get, the more both the community health system and the international partners tend to think that the problem is solved. And this is not yet the case.”
This is why Burri is worried that history could repeat itself. “In the mid-’60s, only a handful of cases existed after huge efforts by the French and the British colonial forces,” he says. Then health-care priorities changed and cases from both parasites “came dramatically.”
The hope is that fexinidazole will make a difference. Since it is safe and effective, unlike the prior treatment for acute sleeping sickness, people may be more willing to get treatment, lessening the impact of any future outbreak.
Still, Burri stresses that the fight is not over. “It’s a disease that has shown more than once that it comes back if we look away,” he says.
Valverde agrees. “We are in the last mile and the last mile is the most difficult.”
Max Barnhart is a Ph.D. candidate and science journalist studying the evolution of heat-stress resistance in sunflowers at the University of Georgia.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — A special election in Tennessee may serve as a bellwether for the future of South Carolina’s most competitive congressional district heading into 2026.
Like several elections held this year, the Tennessee special election for the U.S. House shifted toward the Democratic Party when compared to the 2024 election. Matt Van Epps, a President Donald Trump-backed Republican, won by nine percentage points in a district the president carried by 22 points last fall. It marked a 13-point swing toward the Democrats, who were in the wilderness for months following Trump’s return to Washington.
In South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, widely considered an R+6, according to the Cook Political Report, it presents a unique opportunity for the party that held the seat from 2019 to 2021.
“The lesson from New Jersey, Virginia and now Tennessee is unmistakable,” said Mac Deford, one of the Democrats running for the party’s nomination in the district. “When Democrats center the issues that matter most to working families, we win.”
READ MORE | “Republican candidate Matt Van Epps wins Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.”
Similar to Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District special election, an incumbent will not be on the ballot. U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace has started her campaign for governor of South Carolina, leaving the seat up for grabs.
Several candidates have already jumped into the race. Republicans include Dorchester County Councilmember Jay Byars; Beaufort County Councilmember Logan Cunningham; Republican state Rep. Mark Smith of Mount Pleasant; Air Force veteran Alex Pelbath; former doctor Sam McCown; and Justin Myers, a Navy veteran.
Deford and Mayra Rivera-Vazquez are the two Democrats who have declared they are running thus far.
Working in favor of Democrats is Trump’s broad disapproval among the American electorate. The president’s approval rating sits at 36%, the lowest of his second term, while disapproval has risen to 60%, according to a new Gallup poll.
READ MORE | “Trump claims Tennessee Republicans’ win is ‘great night’ for GOP.”
Additionally, the president’s party almost always loses ground in midterm House elections, as has happened in 20 of the past 22 midterm elections stretching back to 1938.
“The Democratic Party is organizing and connecting with a big coalition of voters who are now looking for real solutions on the issues,” Rivera-Vazquez said. “The fact that Tennessee was competitive is a good example that the same thing can happen in our district. This is a good opportunity for us. The Republican Congress has abdicated its responsibility. You see the results in these elections.”
In Tennessee, the 13-point swing toward Democrats was actually the smallest of the five congressional special elections held this year outside a major election day. Arizona’s 7th Congressional District swung 17 points. Virginia’s 11th Congressional District shifted 16. In both of those elections, a Democrat won.
Florida’s 1st Congressional District saw a 23-point swing, and Florida’s 6th Congressional District moved 16 points toward Democrats.
The generic ballot shows Democrats sitting at +5, according to polling averages from RealClear Polling.
Each election is different, but if the trend continues, South Carolina Democrats appear bullish on reclaiming a seat that hasn’t really been competitive since the boundaries were redrawn.
“What happened in Tennessee makes it clear: Democrats are on offense and Republicans are on the ropes,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “Democrats are all gas and no brakes as we head into next year.”
South-Carolina
South Carolina Football Recruiting: Three-Star IOL Anthony Baxter Sings With the Gamecocks
2026 three-star interior offensive lineman Anthony Baxter officially signs his letter of intent to play for South Carolina on Wednesday during Early National Signing Day. Baxter is the second interior lineman to sign with the Gamecocks so far as the team tries to retool its offensive line room.
The 6-foot-3 and 335 pound offensive lineman out of Rock Hill, South Carolina, committed to the Gamecocks back in May 2024. He has stuck with that commitment as one of the first in South Carolina’s 2026 class and now makes it officially with his signature on Wednesday.
Offensive Line Outlook
Baxter joins five-star offensive lineman Darius Gray so far as signees on Wednesday morning. Fellow offensive line recruit Zyon Guiles is also expected to sign as a part of the class. Grabbing as many high level guys to add to that room is imperative as it did not live up to expectations throughout the 2025 season.
Baxter, Gray, and Guiles are the only three offensive lineman in South Carolina’s 2026 recruiting class, barring any unexpected flip targets. Those three players average 6-foot-3.5 and over 303 pounds. More beef coming to a line looking to protect next year’s quarterback, whoever that may be.
Gray is the more versatile lineman in the class as his elite traits can help him at either guard or tackle. However should he play guard going forawrd, he and Baxter could help anchor the interior for years to come. The Gamecocks will all but assuredly add some pieces in the transfer portal, as they have done each of the last two off-season’s, but Baxter and the incoming freshman have an opportunity to compete for playing time right away.
Sitting at the 21st spot in 247Sports’s Team Recruiting Rankings, the Gamecocks have 14 commits in the 2026 class, many of which expect to sign during the Early National Signing Day period. Stay tuned here at South Carolina Gamecocks on SI for all up-to-date information on South Carolina recruiting.
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South-Carolina
South Carolina pauses childcare voucher applications, affecting thousands of families
LANDRUM, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – A critical scholarship program for over 50,000 children across South Carolina was cut on Dec. 1 as the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) temporarily paused applications to their Working Families Child Care Scholarship Program.
The pause is leaving some parents begging leaders to see past the paperwork and understand the human impact.
“I just hope the people who are in control of all this can actually look at who it is affecting. It’s not just money given out, it’s not just a number, it’s real, live human people,” said Kayla Stivers, a parent affected by the pause.
Single mother Stivers said the Working Families Childcare Scholarship has changed her life. She has two children, works full-time time and goes to school.
“This is my livelihood. It’s my friends’ livelihood,” Stivers said. “I want to give the absolute best for my children as I possibly can, and this voucher helps.”
The recent pause in the childcare scholarship will soon leave her and her children without this assistance.
“Right now, I’m at the point where I have to start thinking about what I’m going to cut come February. If it’s going to be the sports that they’re in, it’s going to affect them majorly,” Stivers said.
DSS did not say how long they are pausing new applications, only that it is temporary. The department said the federal funding they have been using for the vouchers ran out last year and the government shutdown delayed additional funding they are still receiving.
Miss Tammy’s Little Learning Center said a majority of children they care for use this state scholarship program. They are anticipating 66% of their families will lose the scholarship in the coming months.
“Families are stressed. It’s going to affect not just families, it’s going to affect the childcare industry, it’s going to affect the working industry. It’s going to be a major ordeal,” said Thomas Compton, region director for Miss Tammy’s Little Learning Center.
The Spartanburg County First Steps Program called Quality Counts explained the pause on this funding is also impacting dozens of childcare centers across the county and could leave a ripple effect impacting children, parents and businesses.
“The only way to help prevent this is to get the people in power to talk about this and be aware of it and to know the facts,” said Cathleen Cullen, assistant director of Spartanburg County First Steps Quality Counts Program.
DSS has requested $20 million in state funds for 2026 through 2027 for this issue, but there is no word yet on where those funds stand.
Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with FOX Carolina. For more free content like this, download our apps.
Copyright 2025 WHNS. All rights reserved.
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