Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Mar 10;5(1):42.
doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed5010042.

From Colonial Research Spirit to Global Commitment: Bayer and African Sleeping Sickness in the Mirror of History

Ulrich-Dietmar Madeja  1 , Ulrike Schroeder  1
Affiliations

From Colonial Research Spirit to Global Commitment: Bayer and African Sleeping Sickness in the Mirror of History

Ulrich-Dietmar Madeja et al. Trop Med Infect Dis. .

Abstract

In the early 20th century, a series of epidemics across equatorial Africa brought African sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis, HAT) to the attention of the European colonial administrations. This disease presented an exciting challenge for microbiologists across Europe to study the disease, discover the pathogen and search for an effective treatment. In 1923, the first "remedy for tropical diseases"-Suramin-manufactured by Bayer AG came onto the market under the brand name "Germanin." The development and life cycle of this product-which today is still the medicine of choice for Trypanosoma brucei (T.b), hodesiense infections-reflect medical progress as well as the successes and failures in fighting the disease in the context of historic political changes over the last 100 years.

Keywords: African sleeping sickness; development of treatment; medical history; political history; suramin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(Bayer Archive. 1921. (Picture 0-19682)) Route of the Bayer expedition starting on 2 November 1921 in Cape Town, travelling to the areas most affected by African sleeping sickness in what is today Tanzania, Burundi, Ruanda, DR Congo as well as a small part of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia, where the expedition ended in Kiambi in late 1922.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(Bayer Archive. 1921. (Picture 0-34295)) Screening of local population for symptoms of African sleeping sickness in the Urambi camp at Lake Tanganyika in 1921.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(Bayer Archive. Karl Friedrich Kleine with a Patient (Picture 0-3438301)) Friedrich Karl Kleine demonstrating the palpation of lymph nodes during screening of patients.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(Bayer Archive. Product “Bayer 205”, ca. 1934. (Picture 0-25791)) Pack of ampoules of “Bayer 205” (Germanin), ca. 1934.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Number of cases of African sleeping sickness reported and population screened [5,10,11,12]. Graphs show the correlation between population screened (black circles) and number of reported cases (grey columns). Screening and surveillance of endemic disease areas are key to control African sleeping sickness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Headrick D.R., Büscher P.H. Sleeping Sickness Epidemics and Colonial Responses in East and Central Africa, 1900–1940. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2014;8:4. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002772. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Neill D.J. Networks in Tropical Medicine: Internationalism, Colonialism, and the Rise of a Medical Specialty, 1890–1930. Stanford University Press; Stanford, CA, USA: 2012. pp. 104, 105, 111–133, 158–175.
    1. Tilley H. Ecologies of complexity: Tropical environments, African trypanosomiasis, and the science of disease control in British colonial Africa, 1900–1940. Osiris. 2004;19:21–38. doi: 10.1086/649392. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tilley H. Africa as a Living Laboratory. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, IL, USA: 2011. pp. 176–191.
    1. Steverding D. The history of African trypanosomiasis. Parasit. Vectors. 2008;1:3. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-1-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources