Delay in resolution of trypanosome-induced genital lesions in male rabbits infected with Trypanosoma brucei and treated with diminazene aceturate.

The effects of drug therapy on the resolution of the genital lesions accompanying systemic Trypanosoma brucei infection was investigated using male California White rabbits. Infected animals were treated with diminazene aceturate two to 13 days after the onset of gross scrotal lesions; they were killed at different intervals after treatment to determine the histological evidence of healing of the genital lesions. It was found that, although parasites disappeared soon after treatment, regeneration of seminiferous epithelium depended on the severity of the initial lesions. Only mildly afflicted rabbits had fully recovered within 141 days.