In vivo Effect of Metachloridine on Chronic Trichomoniasis in Pigeons

Abstract

Metachloridine (2-metanilamido-5-chloropyrimidine) has proven very effective in certain aspects of Plasmodium cathemerium (Hughes and Brackett, 1946; Gingrich, Schoch, and Taylor, 1946) and P. gallinaceum (Brackett and Waletzky, 1946) infections in canaries and chickens, respectively. It has been used unsuccessfully in infections with Trypanosoma equiperdum, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani, Schistosoma mansoni, and Eimeria tenella (Brackett and Waletzky, 1946). Because of its effectiveness in avian malaria it seemed worth trying against other pathogenic protozoa. Trichomonas gallinae, the cause of pigeon canker, was selected. Six chronically infected white Carneau pigeons' were divided into two birds as controls, with four receiving the metachloridine.2 Observations on weight and water consumption were made daily on all six birds for ten days prior to treatment. The drug was administered in the drinking water of the four experimental birds in the amount of 150 mg per kilogram of body weight per day for a period of seven days. All six birds were positive for T. gallinae at the end of the week's exposure to the drug. They were then carried nine days with no drugging, at the end of which time they were found to be still swarming with T. gallinae. All examinations of the birds were made on fluid removed from the pharyngeal portion of the oral cavity. It is concluded that metachloridine administered in the drinking water at the rate of 150 mg per kg. of body weight per day to pigeons chronically infected with Trichomonas gallinae in the upper digestive tract has no appreciable effect on the protozoan.