Effect of malnutrition on susceptibility of mice to Trypanosoma musculi: vitamin A-deficiency.

Vitamin A-deficiency was studied in mice infected with Trypanosoma musculi. Irrespective of diet, trypomastigotes (trypanosomes) appeared in peripheral tail blood of all inoculated mice after 6-day incubation periods. On the average, vitamin A-deficient mice had parasitemias about 10 times greater than animals fed a complete diet and 8 times pair-fed controls. Parasitemias lasted longer in vitamin-deficient hosts, and reached a maximum five days later than those from control hosts.