| dc.description.abstract | Schistosomiasis is the second most important parasitic infection, after malaria, mainly
infecting poor people in the tropics who can hardly afford the cost of the currently
available drugs for treatment. Consequently, sub-curative doses to reduce morbidity
while maintaining compatibility with the low economic status of the patients have been
advocated. However, it has not been shown that sub-curative doses directly reduce
morbidity, owing to ethical reasons. This study investigated the effect of praziquantel and
metrifonate therapy on proliferative responses to schistosome antigens, histopathology
and worm density in the Syrian golden hamsters infected with Mazeras strain of
Schistosoma haematobium. The hamsters were infected with Mazeras strain of S.
haematobium and then treated with two doses of either 200 mg/kg body weight
metrifonate (n = 32) or 500 mg/kg body weight praziquantel (n = 32). Then their in vitro
proliferative responses to schistosome antigens, pathology and worm reduction were
compared. Both lymph node and spleen cells from both .treated and untreated hamsters
showed increasing proliferative responses to schistosome antigens SSP, SWAP and SEA.
No granulomas were observed in the livers of praziquantel-treated hamsters. Both
metrifonate-treated and untreated hamsters had schistosome-egg-related granulomas 1, 3
and 7 weeks after treatment. No worms were recoyered from praziquantel-treated
hamsters. There was a significant statistical difference between the number of worms
recovered from metrifonate-treated hamsters and those from untreated hamsters in the
first 3 weeks after treatment (p< 0.05). However, 7 weeks after treatment there was no
significant difference (p > 0.05) between the numbers of worms recovered from these
latter two groups of hamsters. These results suggest that praziquantel is more effective
than metrifonate in the management of Mazeras strain of S. haematobium infections | en |
