Suppression of the immune response to Trichuris muris in lactating mice.

Mice infected with Trichuris muris during lactation were unable to expel the infection at the normal time, but expulsion occurred when lactation was terminated. Suppression of expulsion was uniform in mice suckling more than five young but variable with smaller litters. Mice exposed to a primary infection while lactating were shown to have serum antibodies capable of passively transferring immunity to recipient mice and showed near normal immunity to a secondary infection given after lactation had ceased. Acquired immunity to T. muris was also suppressed by lactation, but the worms which became established in lactating resistant mice were fewer and smaller than those in non-lactating, non-resistant controls. It is suggested that the suppressive effect of lactation in this host-parasite relationship is exerted on the second, lymphoid cell-mediated phase of worm expulsion.