From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsleeping sicknessˈsleeping ˌsickness noun [uncountable] MIa serious tropical disease that is carried by the tsetse fly (=a type of insect). It causes extreme tiredness and fever, and makes you lose weight.
Examples from the Corpus
sleeping sickness• Trypanosomes, which cause sleeping sickness, keep changing their keys by switching on one gene after another.• Eflornithine, a new drug for sleeping sickness, was discontinued because it was unprofitable. 