INCREASED SEVERITY OF ACUTE TRYPANOSOMA-BRUCEI-BRUCEI INFECTION IN RATS WITH ALLOXAN-INDUCED DIABETES

Twenty rats were made diabetic by treatment with alloxan monohydrate ( 10 % solution, 100 mg/kg body weight). Ten diabetic and ten non-diabet ic rats were intraperitoneally infected with the same infective doses of Trypanosoma brucei brucei (Lafia strain). The uninfected controls w ere ten diabetic and ten non-diabetic rats. The prepatent period was s horter in the diabetics (3.5 +/- 0.5 days) than the non-diabetics (4.2 +/- 0.4 days). Although the infected diabetic and non-diabetic rats h ad comparable levels of peak parasitaemia, the diabetics had significa ntly (P < 0.05) higher parasitaemia before this peak. The survival tim e was shorter (P < 0.05) for the infected diabetics (12.1 +/- 3.2 days ) than for the infected non-diabetics (14.8 +/- 1.7 days). The infecti on did not affect the level of diabetic hyperglycaemia, but caused a m ore severe anaemia in the diabetics than the non-diabetics, with the p ercentage decreases in packed cell volume in the diabetics being highe r (P < 0.05) from days 3 to 12 post-infection. Tn conclusion, the path ogenic effects of trypanosome infection may be more severe in rats hav ing alloxan-induced diabetes. (C) Inra/Elsevier, Paris.