Assessment of immunological, parasitological and histopathological parameters after treatment with nitazoxanide and allium sativum (garlic) against murine cryptosporidiosis / Mona Yousry Mahmoud Osman ; Supervised Alyaa Ahmed Farid , Wajet Nabil , Ibrahim Rabae Shalash

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Zoology

Cryptosporidium is a genus of apicomplexan parasitic alveolates that can cause a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness (cryptosporidiosis) that primarily involves watery diarrhea (intestinal cryptosporidiosis) with or without a persistent cough (respiratory cryptosporidiosis) in both immunocompetent and immunodeficient humans.The majority of chemotherapeutic agents used to treat parasitic disease are ineffective against cryptosporidiosis. Many compounds have been tested for their anti-cryptosporidial activity, but there is no effective therapy for preventing or treating cryptosporidiosis, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. Allium sativum has been used in many cultures for thousands of years in both food and medicine. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Allium sativum in treatment of cryptosporidiosis especially in immunosuppressed mice. Animals were divided into 8 groups (7 for each): Group I: Immunocompetent control mice, group II: Immunosuppressed control mice, group III: Non-treated immunocompetent infected mice, group IV: Non-treated immunosuppressed infected mice, group V: Nitazoxanide treated immunocompetent infected mice, group VI: Nitazoxanide treated immunosuppressed infected mice, group VII: Allium sativum treated immunocompetent infected mice and group VIII: Allium sativum treated immunosuppressed infected mice. 0.25 mg/g/day dexamethasone was orally administrated for14consecutive days prior to infection with C. parvum oocysts.

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