1. Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis is contracted after you’ve been exposed to contaminated freshwater (rivers, lakes, ponds).

The symptoms include a rash and itchy skin accompanied by fever, chills, cough, or muscle ache.

There’s no preventative medication, but treatment immediately can make a huge difference. Better yet, stick to pool water for your swims.

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2. Hookworm

Hookworm larvae live in the sand and penetrate your skin in a subtle way. You wouldn't feel a thing until your feet begin to itch and painful blisters form.

The symptoms are easy to misunderstand as bug bites, but the swelling gives it away.

Once diagnosed, it can be treated in one to three days.

3. Transient Global Amnesia

This happens when you wake up in a place with no memory of how you got there or who you are.

An estimated 3 to 10 people out of every 100,000 contracts this disease, and a 2006 study found that 96 percent of subjects fell between the ages of 51 and 80.

4. African Trypanosomiasis

The disease actually disrupts sleep cycles if it progresses to a second stage. Symptoms are most likely to include fever, itching, joint pain, and headache.

You can get this disease through the bite of an infected tsetse fly. Trypanosomiasis is actually a parasite; the fly’s bite is simply the way it’s transmitted. The flies are common across sub-Saharan Africa. If left untreated, African trypanosomiasis can cause irreparable neurological damage or even death.