The viability of Ascaris lumbricoides eggs passed in the feces was evaluated after treatment of patients with one of the anti-helminthic drugs (thiabendazole, levamisole, cambendazole, pyrantel pamoate, mebendazole or praziquantel). For each drug, a group of 5 children was selected and their feces collected 24 h before treatment and 24, 48 and 72 h after drug administration, except for mebendazole, with the feces being collected throughout the period of treatment. After sedimentation, the total amount of eggs from each collection was transferred to tissue culture flasks containing 10 ml H2So4 O, 1N, with the addtion of 3 drops of a miconazol solution, and incubated at 28 graus centígrados, individually, for 80 days. The flasks wee maintained open and the culture were oxigenated daily by manual agitation. On the 80th day of culture, 20-days-old albino mice were inoculated with 3,200 embryonated eggs, per os. Larvae were recovered from their lungs and hearts, on the 8th day after infection, according to Baerman's method (Morais, 1948). Thiabendazole showed 100.0% ovicidal capacity as early as 48 after treatment. Inhibition of embrionary development was observed when thiabendazole was used. This drug also had an effect on the eggs infectivity when inoculated into normal mice. No significant effect on embrionary development was observed for the other drugs tested.

Estudou-se a relação entre a esquistossomose e o nível sérico de retinol num modelo duplo cego, comparando-se a vitamina A dos grupos infectado e não-infectado de uma população de zona endêmica da helmintíase no Estado de Minas Gerais. O grupo infectado era composto por 106 pessoas com carga parasitária inferior a 500 ovos de S. mansoni por grama de fezes, com formas intestinal e hepatointestinal; o não-parasitado era constituído por 112 habitantes desta mesma zona endêmica que apresentaram exame parasitológico (método de Kato modificado) e intradermor-reação negativos, bem como ausência de história de infecção e tratamento prévios para esquistossomose nos seis meses anteriores. A determinação do retinol foi feita pelo método do ácido trifluoracético, considerando aceitável um nível > 20,0 μg/100 ml. A análise dos resultados mostrou que, nas condições em que foram realizadas esta observação, as diferenças encontradas nos níveis séricos do retinol entre os grupos estudados indica não haver correlação significativa entre a infecção pelo S. mansoni e o nível sérico da vitamina A.

The interrelation between schistosomiasis and the retinol blood levels was studied in a double blind method, by comparing the serum vitamin A of the infected and non-infected group of an endemic area of Schistosoma mansoni infection. The infected group was characterized by 106 parasitized persons in the intestinal and hepatointestinal forms, who eliminated less than 500 eggs/gram of feces (Modified Kato's method); the non-infected group was characterized by 112 inhabitants of this endemic area without eggs in the stools and presenting negative intradermal reactions, and absence of previous specific treatment. The blood levels of retinol was determinated using trifluoracetic acid method, regarding the normal levels > 20,0mg/100ml. The results of this study point out the absence of correlation between S. mansoni infection and blood levels of vitamin A.

Com o objetivo de testar a viabilidade do ciclo biológico, 15 pacientes (masculinos, de quatro a 14 anos) com Ascaris lumbricoides, foram selecionados ao acaso. Após tratamento clássico com sais básicos de levamisole (7 pacientes) e de pamoato de pirantel (8), os ovos retirados das fêmeas expelidas ficaram incubados por 18 dias em de H2SO4 N/10. A seguir foram administrados per os a grupos de 5 camundongos por pacientes. Decorridos 8 dias da infecção, os animais foram sacrificados para pesquisas microscópica de larvas nos fragmentos pulmonares. Dos 75 animais, somente 1, pertencente ao grupo de tratados com levamisole, não apresentou larvas nos fragmentos pulmonares. Concluiu-se que as drogas, nas doses utilizadas, não possuem ação deletéria sobre os ovos de A. lumbricoides, mas promovem a eliminação de material infectivo, com possibilidade de incrementar a poluição onde vivem comunidades sem adequadas condições de saneamento básico.

A total of 15 patients from 4 to 14 years of age were submitted to specific treatment for Ascaris lumbricoides infection. Seven out of these 15 patients received Levamisole (150 mg/ kg of body weight), and eight received Pyrantel Pamoate (10 mg/kg of body weight). Eggs collected directly from the uteri of the female were incubated for 18 days in H2SO4 N/10 solution. These eggs were administered per os to groups of five white mice per patient. Eight days after the infection, the mice were sacrificed to permit microscopic searching of larvae in lung specimens. Only in one out of the 75 examined mice, in the group of patients treated with Levamisole, larvae were not recovered from the lungs. Thus, it is to conclude that the drugs used in the treatment did not demonstrate deleterious effect on the A. lumbricoides eggs. However, the drugs really promote the elimination of infectious eggs. In these circumstances it is possible to believe in the in- creasing of the pollution level in communities without adequate basic sanitation facilities.

Foram dosadas as imunoglobulinas e realizados testes cutâneos para se avaliar o sistema imunológico de pacientes portadores da forma intestinal da esquistossomose mansoni. Estes testes foram realizados antes do tratamento com aminonitrotiazol e após trinta, sessenta e noventa dias do tratamento. Antes do tratamento o nível de IgG (1893 ± 472 mg%) apresentava-se elevado, mas os níveis de IgA (186 ± 74 mg%) e de IgM (91 ± 26 mg%) achavam-se normais. Decorridos trinta, sessenta e noventa dias do tratamento, o nível de IgG diminuiu, observando-se ligeira elevação de IgA bem como de IgM. Os pacientes, antes do tratamento, quando testados com schistosomina e anti IgE apresentaram áreas de 1,22 ± 0,36 cm² e 1,04 ± 0,25 cm², respectivamente. Noventa dias após o tratamento, as reações à schistosomina e ao soro anti IgE produziram reações com áreas ainda maiores. Os testes de hipersensibilidade retardada mostraram que 35% dos pacientes reagiram à schistosomina e 71% ao 2-4 dinitrofluorobenzeno.

The amount of immunoglobulins serum and the cutaneous sensitivity to specific antigen in 19 patients with intestinal schistosomiasis were determined, as an attempt to study the incidence of delayed and imediate type of hypersensitivity. The tests were performed before and thirty, sixty and ninety days after treatment with aminonitrotiazol. The immunoglobulin levels before treatment were found to be 1,893 ± 472, 186 ± 74 and 91 ± 26 mg%, respectively for IgG, IgA and IgM; ninety days after treatment the level for IgG became normal (1,266 ± 389 mg%) and a slight increase of IgA (270 ± 89 mg%) and IgM (111 ± 31 mg%) was observed. The patients were intradermally tested with schistosomin and with anti IgE serum. The tests before treatment gave the following resulta: 1.22 ± 0.36 cm² for schistosomin and 1.04 ± 0.25 cm² for anti IgE. Ninety days afterwards a slight increase of the reactions was observed and the results respectively were 1.42 ± 0.65 cm² and 1.15 ± 0.32 cm². The studies for delayed hypersenstivity indicated that 35% of patients showed an area of induration larger than 0.5 cm², 48 hours after the intradermal injection with schistosomin, and 71% developed positive reaction when challenged with dinitrofluorobenzene