Efficacy of combined therapy of Diminaveto® and Intromidium® in albino rats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei

The chemotherapeutic effect of Diaminaveto® (diminazene aceturate) and Intromidium® (isomethamidium chloride) combination in rats infected with Trypanosoma brucei was evaluated. Forty albino rats used for this study were grouped into 8 groups of 5 rats each. Rats in group 1 were not infected while group 2–8 rats were inoculated intraperitoneally (i.p.) with 1 × 10 6 trypanosomes. Rats in group 2 were left untreated while group 3 and 4 rats were treated with 3.5 mg/kg Diaminaveto (DM) and 0.5 mg/kg Intromidium (IM) intramuscularly (i.m.) respectively at day 19 post infection (PI). Also, 7.0 mg/kg DM and 1.0 mg/kg IM were administered to rats in groups 5 and 6, respectively at the same day. Groups 7 and 8 were treated with 7.0 mg/kg DM and 1.0 mg/kg IM, respectively, at day 19 PI, and these treatments were reversed after 2 weeks (group 7 rats were treated with 1.0 mg/kg IM while rats in group 8 were treated with 7.0 mg/kg DM). Level of parasitemia, clinical signs, survivability, body weight changes, rectal temperature (RT), hematological indices (packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, white blood cell count, and differential leukocytic count), and rate of parasite clearance were used to evaluate the efficacies of the drugs and their combination. The parasites were cleared in the treated groups at day 21 PI (2 days post treatment). There was a remarkable ( P