Abstract
The pathology of trypanosomiasis in rats was studied using a derivative of Trypanosoma brucei TREU 667. This produced a subacute disease lasting over 8 weeks. The results indicated that the disease process could be divided into at least 3 categories. 1. Progressive alteration occurred in the immunological apparatus of the lymph nodes, spleen and thymus. Initially the lymph nodes and spleen became populated by lymphoblasts and then by marked plasma cell hyperplasia. Later these organs and the thymus became depleted of immunological cell types. Throughout the course of infection there was marked increase in the activity of the mononuclear phagocytic system. 2. The histological findings of increased erythropoiesis in the spleen and bone marrow, build up of haemosiderin deposits in the spleen and marked erythrophagocytosis suggested that the anaemia, a characteristic of the murine trypanosomiasis, was haemolytic in origin. Later in the injection a proportion of rats underwent a major haemolytic crisis with haemoglobinaemia and haemoglobin-uria and died within a few hours. The cause of the anaemia was unknown. 3. While tissue damage and cellular infiltration were found in most organs, especially in the vicinity of trypanosomes, the heart was most markedly affected developing a severe myocarditis which probably resulted in death in a proportion of cases.
Published Version
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