Pythiosis is an emerging disease that is difficult to treat and is caused by the oomycete Pythium insidiosum. This study evaluated the efficacy of two different treatments for pythiosis using rabbits as an experimental model. Fifteen rabbits subcutaneously inoculated with P. insidiosum zoospores were divided into three groups of five animals (group 1, control; group 2, treated with Pitium Vac® immunotherapic and group 3, treated with caspofungin). The treatments were started 25 days after the inoculation, and consisted of: (1) eight doses of the immunotherapic administered at 14-day intervals and (2) 1 mg/kg per day of caspofungin during 20 consecutive days. The animals were necropsied 18 weeks after the experiment onset, and lesion fragments were collected for histopathologic and morphometric analysis. The animals in the control group displayed larger lesion sizes compared to the animals treated with Pitium Vac® or caspofungin (P < 0.05). The histological aspect of the lesions was similar among the groups under study, and the morphometric evaluation showed that the animals in groups 2 and 3 had lower amounts of hyphae in necrotic areas (P < 0.05). The results of the present study indicate that, even though the treatments did not differ significantly, the immunotherapic treatment is still the best alternative to treat pythiosis due to its lower cost. Caspofungin fungistatic effect on P. insidiosum in addition to its high cost makes its use for the treatment of animal pythiosis impractical. © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Pereira, D.I.B., Santurio, J.M., Alves, S.H., De Azevedo, M.I., Silveira, F., Da Costa, F.F., et al. (2008). Comparison between immunotherapy and caspofungin as agents to treat experimental pythiosis in rabbits. JOURNAL DE MYCOLOGIE MEDICALE, 18(3), 129-133 [10.1016/j.mycmed.2008.05.001].
Comparison between immunotherapy and caspofungin as agents to treat experimental pythiosis in rabbits
SILVEIRA, FLAVIO;
2008
Abstract
Pythiosis is an emerging disease that is difficult to treat and is caused by the oomycete Pythium insidiosum. This study evaluated the efficacy of two different treatments for pythiosis using rabbits as an experimental model. Fifteen rabbits subcutaneously inoculated with P. insidiosum zoospores were divided into three groups of five animals (group 1, control; group 2, treated with Pitium Vac® immunotherapic and group 3, treated with caspofungin). The treatments were started 25 days after the inoculation, and consisted of: (1) eight doses of the immunotherapic administered at 14-day intervals and (2) 1 mg/kg per day of caspofungin during 20 consecutive days. The animals were necropsied 18 weeks after the experiment onset, and lesion fragments were collected for histopathologic and morphometric analysis. The animals in the control group displayed larger lesion sizes compared to the animals treated with Pitium Vac® or caspofungin (P < 0.05). The histological aspect of the lesions was similar among the groups under study, and the morphometric evaluation showed that the animals in groups 2 and 3 had lower amounts of hyphae in necrotic areas (P < 0.05). The results of the present study indicate that, even though the treatments did not differ significantly, the immunotherapic treatment is still the best alternative to treat pythiosis due to its lower cost. Caspofungin fungistatic effect on P. insidiosum in addition to its high cost makes its use for the treatment of animal pythiosis impractical. © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
