Abstract:
Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (T.b.r.), the causative agent of the East African
form of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), is capable of crossing the blood
brain barrier and invade the central nervous system (CNS). However, it is not clear
whether bloodstream forms (BSF) of T.b.rhodesiense differ in biological
characteristics from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) forms. The present study was
carried out to compare the pathogenicity of CSF and BSF of T.b. rhodesiense
parasites in Swiss white mice following intraperitoneal inoculation with 106
trypanosomes. The parasites were tested for presence of the serum resistance
associated (SRA) gene. Parasitaemia, body weight, packed cell volume (PCV) and
survival of the mice was monitored daily until the experiment was terminated. Data
was analyzed using general linear model. Both forms of parasite were positive for
the SRA gene, and there was no significant difference in progression of
parasitaemia, PCV values or survival of the mice. However, the weights of BSF
infected mice initially dropped faster than those of CSF infected mice (P<0.001)
