有史以来,在非洲就有一种昏睡病。第一个昏睡病的病例,是一位阿拉伯旅行家在14世纪时记载下来的。当时他去访问一个部落,该部落的首领大部分时间都在睡觉,两年之后就死掉了。后来整个部落的人也都因昏睡病而死去。第一批碰到昏睡病的欧洲人是15～16世纪时的葡萄牙 There has been a sleeping sickness in Africa ever since. The first case of sleeping sickness was recorded by an Arab traveler in the 14th century. At that time he went to visit a tribe whose chief was sleeping most of the time and died two years later. Later, the entire tribe also died of sleeping sickness. The first Europeans to encounter sleeping sickness were from Portugal from the 15th to the 16th centuries