Sleeping sickness is a serious tropical disease which causes great tiredness and often leads to death.
sleeping sickness in British English
noun
1. Also called: African sleeping sickness
an African disease caused by infection with protozoans of the genus Trypanosoma, characterized by fever, wasting, and sluggishness
2. Also called (esp formerly): sleepy sickness
an epidemic viral form of encephalitis characterized by extreme drowsiness
Technical name: encephalitis lethargica
sleeping sickness in American English
1.
an infectious disease, esp. common in tropical Africa, caused by either of two trypanosomes (Trypanosoma gambiense or T. rhodesiense) that are transmitted by the bite of a tsetse fly: it is characterized by fever, drowsiness, and coma, usually ending in prolonged coma and death
2.
inflammation of the brain, caused by a virus and characterized by drowsiness and lethargy