Renal changes in golden hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania D. infantum on top of Schistosoma mansoni infection.

In Egypt, Schistosomiasis mansoni is one of the most important parasitic disease of man. Besides, in the last two decades, indigenous cases of infantile visceral leishmaniasis have been reported. These two parasites affect the kidney causing renal histopathological changes. Thus, it was aimed to study the concomitant infection of L. d. infantum on top of S. mansoni infection in Syrian golden hamsters, the model animal for both parasites. The results showed that the renal changes were more or less the same as infection with either parasite alone. Both parasites produce mesangial cell proliferation and mesangial matrix increase. Some glomeruli showed complete replacement of the capillary tuft with structureless homogenous material. In one S. mansoni positive control hamster Schistosoma eggs were seen within granulomas and atrophic glomeruli. However, the lesihmanial infection, more or less suppressed the schistosomal infection. The leishmanial infection itself became more prominent and the renal changes it caused appeared earlier and were more obvious.