Effects of betamethasone on the course of experimentai. Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Frederico G.C. Abath, Yara M. Gomes, Eridan M. Coutinho, Silvia M.L. Montenegro, Maria E.B. Melo, Alexandre B. Carvalho
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 1986
• Subjects: Doença de Chagas; Tripanosomiase; Tratamento imunossupressivo; Beta-metasona; Infecção mínima pelo Trypanosoma cruzi; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic; The ''Y''
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0037-86821986000300006; https://doaj.org/article/8ed667f5df0842a99e15bf25c125090b

In this experiment, the effect of betamethasone administered in the early post- acute infection of mice by Trypanosoma cruzi was studied. This drug was administered during 30 days after the 42nd day of infection in a dose of 0.15 mg/day. The betamethasone treatment did not cause fresh outbreaks of parasitemia and the histopathological findings in the chronic phase were not different from those in the control group. The higher cumulative mortality after treatment in the experimental group was due to superimposed bacterial infections. Outbred albino mice infected with low numbers ofY strain Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes were not suitable models for Chagas' disease, since after 7 months of observation only mild histological lesions developed in all the animais. Prolonged betamethasone treatment of mice infected with low numbers o/Trypanosoma cruzi of the Y strain, during the post-acute phase did not aggravate the course of infection.