[Electroencephalographic study of meningoencephalitis from Trypanosoma gambiense before and after treatment with melarsoprol].

The purpose of the study was to assess the long-term effects of melarsoprol on awakening electroencephalogram (EEG) in 18 patients at the meningo-encephalic stage of human African gambiense trypanosomiasis. Electroencephalographic data were taken prior to then 1 and 3 months after therapy. Before treatment EEG tracings showed important abnormalities (delta bursts organized in a more or less periodic fashion); 1 and 3 months after treatment a clear improvement was observed in 10 patients; however, it was unusual that the EEG completely returned to the normal pattern and a case of relapse was noted 3 months after the end of therapy. As indicated by persistence of the EEG abnormalities, several patients were unresponsive and one of them reacted negatively to melarsoprol. The use of regular EEG investigations as a means of long-term supervision of patients with trypanosomiasis is discussed.