Effect of three immunostimulants on the resistance against Trichinella spiralis infection in mice. (preliminary report).

Twenty eight NIH mice were divided into four groups of seven animals each. Mice in groups were injected intraperitoneally with Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA), Concanavalin A (Con A), Equimune (EI) and phosphate buffered saline (PBS), respectively, 7 days before infection with 300 Trichinella spiralis infective larvae per animal. Forty two days after infection all mice were sacrificed and processed by artificial digestion to determine the number of larvae per gram (LPG) of muscle tissue. The mean +/- SD of LPG obtained were 59.8 +/- 13.1, 17 +/- 8.5, 3.3 +/- 6.2 and 71 +/- 11.5 for groups FCA, Con A, EI, and PBS, respectively. Significant reductions in larvae worm numbers, compared with non-treated controls, were 76% and 95.3% in groups Con A and EI, respectively.