Résumé
Biomedical investigations still rely on the use of laboratory animals, mice and rats are the most commonly used on experimentations. Past experimentations with these animals showed that they could be affected by environmental conditions and infections, causing interferences on researches. Colonies of mice and rats can be parasitized by ectoparasites. Ectoparasites may interfere with scientific researches, typically exacerbated when the animals are immunosuppressed, however, is not common to cause mortality on mice. The plant known as Delphinium staphisagria has been used for years on the treat of skin wounds caused by insects and other parasites such as scabies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the plant Delphinium staphisagria on Myocoptes musculinus infections on mice (Mus muscullus), the experimental animal. The mice of the Parasitology Lab / DBS / UEM with four weeks of age, weighing approximately 28-30 g were evaluated for clinical diagnosis of infection Myocoptes musculinus. Once confirmed, the parasitic animals were divided into experimental groups consisting of 10 animals each as: (I) infected animals with Myocoptes musculinus untreated, (II) infected animals treated with Delphinium staphisagria, once daily added in drinking water, (III) animalsco-infected with strain of low lethality of Trypanosoma cruzi and treated with Delphinium staphisagria. (IV) animalsco-infected with low lethality strain of T. cruzi and untreated. The clinical and parasitological evaluation was conducted for 90 days. All animals treated with Delphinium staphisagria showed clinical and parasitological cure for the infection of Myocoptes musculinus.
Résumé
The Brazilian Spotted Fever (BSF) is a zoonosis that can be fatal if not trteated. As there are few studies of the BSF in the Paraná State, the occurrence of BSF was serologically investigated in dogs and horses by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), in the North of that State, in animals that are regarded as sentinels for BSF. A total of 241 samples of sera of equine, four of asinine, and 29 of dogs were collected in nine farms of three municipalities in the North of Paraná: Arapongas, Douradina, and Umuarama. From fifteen samples of equine serum with positive titres for RIFI, eight (53.3 percent) had titre of 64 against R. rickettsii, two (13.3 percent) 128 against R. rickettsii, and five (33.3 percent) were reactants for R. parkeri and R. rickettsii, with titres ranging from 64 to 2048, and 128 to 1024, respectively. The results showed that domestic animals, sentinels for BSF, are under low exposition to ticks infected with spotted fever group Rickettsia, indicating low risk of human infection by these agents in the studied area.