Therapeutic effect of bleomycin on experimental infection of mice with Trypanosoma gambiense and Trypanosoma evansi.

Intraperitoneal injection of 10 mg/Kg bleomycin into mice 24 h after inoculation with Trypanosoma gambiense or Trypanosoma evansi, reduced the incidence of infection 62.1%, and 95.2%, respectively. No parasitemia was not found in these mice. Treatment of mice with parasitemia with 30 mg/Kg of bleomycin decreased the number of parasites within about 5 h and caused complete cure without relapse in 45% and 75% of mice infected with T. gambiense and T. evansi, respectively. Treatment of mice infected with T. gambiense with bleomycin in combination with ethidium bromide was highly effective and resulted in a high incidence of complete cure, even in heavily infected mice. The mode of action of bleomycin and ethidium bromide on trypanosomes in relation to p-rosaniline resistance is discussed.