Skip to main content
PMC home page
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica logoLink to Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
. 1985 Jun 1;26(2):191–204. doi: 10.1186/BF03546551

Suppression of Babesia Microti Infection in Mice Concurrently Infected with Schistosoma Mansoni

Suppression af Babesia microti infektion hos mus med samtidig infektion med Schistosoma mansoni

Benjamin Fagbemi 1, Niels Ørnbjerg Christensen 1,✉, Peter Nansen 1
PMCID: PMC8202716  PMID: 3933288

Abstract

Blood cell panasitaemias of Babesai microti and associated haematological changes were studied in mice concurrently infected with Schistosoma mansoni and in controls with no schistosome infections. In comparison to the controls B. microti parasit-aemias were suppressed markedly in mice harbouring 6 and 8 weeks old patent S. mansoni infections at the time of infection with B. microti. The suppression was accompanied by an alleviation/annulment of the B. microti induced reductions in haemoglobin and haematocrit levels and in its erythropoetic stimulation. The suppressive effect of patent S. mansoni infections on B. microti is suggested to be at least partly attributable to non-specific immunological factors although the altered erythrocyte kinetic state induced by the schistosoma infection in combination with the preference of B. microti for mature (old) erythrocytes might also play a role in the suppression. In mice harbouring 2 weeks old prepatent S. mansoni infections B. microti was not suppressed.

Keywords: rodent model, double infection, parasitaemia, haematological parameters, altered erythrocyte kinetic state, immunological factors

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.2 MB).

References

  1. Bailenger J., Guy M. Interactions de deux parasitoses associées chez le rat: Plasmodium berghei et Strongyloides ratti. (Interactions between two parasite infections in the rat: Plasmodium berghei and Strongyloides ratti). Ann. parasitol. 1982;57:513–516. doi: 10.1051/parasite/1982576513. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bell E. A. A new method for counting Schistosoma mansoni eggs in faeces. Bull. WHO. 1963;29:525–530. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Buck A. A., Anderson R. I., MacRae A. A., Fain A. Epidemiology of poly-parasitism: I. Occurrence, frequency and distribution of multiple infections in rural communities in Chad, Peru, Afghanistan and Zaire. Tropenmed. Parasitol. 1978;29:61–70. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Buck A. A., Anderson R. I., MacRae A. A., Fain A. Epidemiology of poly-parasitism: II. Type of combinations, relative frequency and association of multiple infections. Tropenmed. Parasitol. 1978;29:137–144. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cox F. E. G. Factors affecting infections of mammals with intraerythrocytic protozoa. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol. 1975;29:429–451. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fagbemi B., Christensen N. Ø., Nansen P. Suppression of Babesia microti infection in mice concurrently infected with Fasciola hepatica. Vet. Parasitol. 1985;17:101–110. doi: 10.1016/0304-4017(85)90095-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hussein H. S. Babesia hylomysci in mice: Preference for erythrocytes of a particular age-group and pathogenesis of the anaemia. Z. Parasitenkd. 1976;50:103–108. doi: 10.1007/BF00380515. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. King, M.: A Medical Laboratory for Developing Countries. Oxford University Press, London 1973.
  9. Kloetzel K., Faleiros J. J., Mendes S. R., Stanley C. T., Arias H. J. Concomitant infection of albino mice by Trypanosoma cruzi and Schistosoma mansoni. Parasitological parameters. Trans. Roy. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 1973;67:652–658. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(73)90034-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Landsberg J. W., Eskridge L. C. The erythrocyte in Babesia canis. J. Parasitol. 1940;26:377–385. doi: 10.2307/3272482. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  11. Lwin M., Last C., Targett G. A. T., Doenhoff M. J. Infection of mice concurrently with Schistosoma mansoni and rodent malarias: contrasting effects of patent S. mansoni infections on Plasmodium chabaudi, P. yoelii and P. berghei. Ann. trop. Med. Parasitol. 1982;76:265–273. doi: 10.1080/00034983.1982.11687541. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Mahmoud A. A. F., Woodruff A. W. Mechanisms involved in the anaemia of schistosomiasis. Trans. Roy. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg. 1972;66:75–84. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(72)90055-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. McHardy N. Effects of stimulating erythropoesis in mice infected with Babesia rodhaini. Ann. trop. Med. Parasitol. 1973;67:301–306. doi: 10.1080/00034983.1973.11686890. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ngwenya B. Z. Enhanced resistance to Plasmodium berghei in mice previously infected with Trichinella spiralis. Parasite Immunol. 1982;4:197–207. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3024.1982.tb00431.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Phillips R. S. The role of the spleen in relation to natural and acquired immunity to infections of Babesia rodhaini in the rat. Parasitology. 1969;59:637–648. doi: 10.1017/S0031182000031176. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Roberts J. A., Kerr J. D., Tracey-Patte P. Function of the spleen in controlling infections of Babesia rodhaini in mice. Int. J. Parasitol. 1972;2:217–226. doi: 10.1016/0020-7519(72)90009-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Schroeder W. F., Cox H. W., Ristic M. Anaemia, parasitaemia, erythrophagocytosis and haemaglutinins in Babesia rodhaini infection. Ann. trop. Med. Parasitol. 1966;60:31–38. doi: 10.1080/00034983.1966.11720803. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Simons H. Sur les rapport des plasmodies paludiques et des piroplasmose avec les reticulocytes. (The relationship between plasmodia and piroplasms and the reticulocytes). Ann. Parasitol. 1939;17:72–85. [Google Scholar]
  19. Smithers S. R., Terry R. J. The infection of laboratory hosts with cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni and the recovery of adult worms. Parasitology. 1965;55:695–700. doi: 10.1017/S0031182000086248. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Todorovic R., Ferris D., Ristic M. Roles of the spleen in acute plas-modial and babesial infections in rats. Exp. Parasitol. 1967;21:354–372. doi: 10.1016/0014-4894(67)90096-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. World Health Organization Immunology of schistosomiasis. Bull WHO. 1974;51:553–595. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Willett K. C. An observation on the unexpected frequency of some multiple infections. Bull. WHO. 1972;47:747–749. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Yusuf J. N., Pierkarski G., Pelster B. Concurrent infections of Trichinella spiralis and Toxoplasma gondii in mice. Z. Parasitenkd. 1980;62:231–240. doi: 10.1007/BF00926564. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica are provided here courtesy of BMC

RESOURCES