Animal models of human African trypanosomiasis--very useful or too far removed?

Animal models of human African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, have been used for many years both to investigate disease pathogenesis and to test novel drug therapies. Model systems used have included mice, rats and non-human primates such as monkeys. Whilst such animal models have some definite but unavoidable limitations, it is argued that these are outweighed by their advantages. The latter include the ability to investigate disease pathogenesis mechanistically and the mechanisms of trypanosome traversal of the blood-brain barrier, as well as the identification of new potential drug targets and staging biomarkers, new drug therapies and combinations, and potential drug toxicity.