Effects of some African game animal sera on Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and T.b. brucei clones.

The effects of different African game sera on Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and T.b. brucei clones have been studied in vitro and in vivo, for the first time, using a modified version of the blood incubation infectivity test (BIIT). Trypanosomes were incubated in vitro with serum samples from a number of different game animal species and their subsequent infectivity for proven susceptible rats then examined after one hour and 8 hours of serum incubation. Sera from eland, waterbuck and, to a lesser extent, spotted hyaena and hippopotamus, were trypanolytic in vitro and destroyed normal infectivity of the trypanosomes to laboratory rodents. Fluorescent antibody testing showed that some of the game sera had highly antibody titres to T. brucei antigen.