Coccidial infection in immunosuppressed mice: prophylaxis and treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone.

Cryptosporidiosis and toxoplasmosis are diseases caused by opportunistic coccidial parasites that can lead to life-threatening infection in immunocompromised patients. We evaluated dehydroepiandrosterone as prophylaxis and therapy in immunosuppressed mice infected with Cryptosporidium parvum and avirulent Toxoplasma gondii. Mice were infected with either Cryptosporidium oocysts or Toxoplasma cysts. Assessment was by mortality rates, parasitic counts and electron microscopic studies. Mortality rates were significantly reduced in all treated groups. A significant reduction in the cryptosporidial oocyst count in stool and intestinal villi and in Toxoplasma cysts in the brains of infected mice was observed in all the groups. The effect of the drug was greater when given prior to infection.