Effect of immune serum, an antibiotic, and a corticosteroid used alone or in combination on experimental leptospirosis in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)
✍ Scribed by M. Yukawa; H. Kamata; S. Ohba; K. Kadoi; K. Mochizuki
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1994
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 344 KB
- Volume
- 34
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0233-111X
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✦ Synopsis
We studied the effects of inimuiie sera, an antibiotic, and a corticosteroid used alone or in combination on leptospira infection in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculritusi.
The results suggest that the combined used of immune serum and corticosteroid (pledonizoron: PZ) inhibits the effects of serum and the marked effects of antibiotic (procaine penicillin-G: PC-G) on leptospirosis. P Z had no el'fects and rather shortened the survival period. PZ did not affect the effects of PC-G when used in combination.
These results suggest that treatment of leptospirosis with corticosteroids requires special caution.
Leptospirosis is an important zoonosis and leptospirae are widely distributed in the world and in various districts of Japan. Antibiotics are effective on leptospirae but have side effects (STOENNER 1985). The immune sera were reported to be effective on severe cases by neutralizing toxic substances produced by leptospirae (HODGES 1977).
For experiments of leptospirae, guinea pigs, hamsters and 3-week-old mice are used. but the sensitivities differ to different serovars among animal species (IMAMURA r t (11. 1960, INADA rt d. 1916, RANDALL and COOPER 1944). We found that Mongolian gerbils (Meriurirs II/iRiiii,Nkitii.s/ are sensitive to various serovars of leptospirae. and vaccination tests are possible in gerbils with the onset of infection and deaths as indices (YUKAWA et cil. 1990). We reported also the effectiveness of immune sera in gerbils (YUKAWA 1991).
In this study, we evaluated the effects of immune sera, an antibiotic. and a corticosteroid used alone or in combination on leptospira infection in gerbils.