Abstract

The chemotherapeutic efficacy of secnidazole-diminazene aceturate (SEC-DA) combination therapy was studied in rats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei with a view of eliminating relapse of infection. Twenty rats grouped into 4 groups (n = 5) were used for the study as follows: uninfected untreated (A), infected untreated (B), infected and treated with diminazene (DA) (3.5 mg/kg) alone intraperitoneum (IP) once (C), infected and treated with SEC (200 mg/kg, orally) + DA (3.5 mg/kg, IP) (D). Treatment started 8 days post-infection. Parasites disappeared from the blood of the SEC-DA treated rats after 3 days of treatment against 5 days for DA alone. Relapse infection occurred in DA alone, 13 days post-treatment. There was no relapse infection in the SEC-DA-treated rats up to 70 days post-treatment. Hematological profiles of the animals after treatment showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher total leucocytes, lymphocytes and neutrophil in the SEC-DA group when compared with DA-treated group. Significant (p < 0.05) increase in the hemoglobin concentration and a decrease in the alanine transaminase (ALT) activity were also observed in the SEC-DA group as compared to the DA alone treated group. It is concluded therefore that the SEC-DA combination therapy was more efficacious than DA alone.

Key words: Combination therapy, efficacy, relapse, secnidazole-diminazene aceturate, trypanosomosis.

Abbreviation

SEC, Secnidazole; DA, diminazene aceturate; SEC-DA, secnidazole-diminazene aceturate; IP, intraperitoneum; PI, post-infection; PT, post-treatment.