title: Effect of immunosuppression of the virulence of Giardia lamblia cysts.
abstract: This study was done to evaluate the pathological effects of Giardia lamblia cysts obtained from immunosuppressed host on the small intestine and liver of immunocompetent hosts. Thirty mice, subdivided into two groups, were infected with G. lamblia cysts in a dose of 5000 cysts/mouse. The first group (10 mice) was inoculated with Giardia cysts obtained from immunocompetent patients and the second group (20 mice) was inoculated with Giardia cysts obtained from already immunosuppressed mice (injected with cyclophosphamide). Stool examination revealed that mice in both groups passed cysts on day 6 +/- 1 after infection. The pathological changes of small intestine in both groups were more or less similar. The changes were in the form of shortening and widening of the villi with cellular inflammatory infiltrate in the lamina propria. The liver of both groups showed no pathological changes. It can be concluded that, although immunosuppression affects the immune system and the defensive mechanism of the host, yet it has no effects on the virulence of the excreted Giardia lamblia cysts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Makled
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Abou el Seoud
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ismail
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016829:Giardia lamblia / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D007121:Immunocompetence; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice