Clinical and serologic responses to human 'apathogenic' trypanosomes.

We describe a female patient suffering from a benign self-healing febrile disease with strongly positive serology for Trypanosoma brucei. The patient showed a clinical picture with similarities to that of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). HAT due to T. b. gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense were ruled out. We performed serologic tests because the patient was worried about HAT after receiving tsetse bites. The possibilities of an infection with human 'apathogenic' trypanosomes such as T. b. brucei, T. congolense or T. vivax are discussed.