Passive Immunity to Experimental Trypanosomiasis

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Abstract
Complete protection against a monomorphic strain of Trypanosoma gambiense has been obtained by the passive transfer of antibody to infected mice and rabbits. The necessary experimental conditions for protection appear to be: a sufficiently high protective antibody titer; and the injection of a sufficiently small challenge inoculum. Evidence is presented which is consistent with the hypothesis that relapses in experimental infections are due to the selection of an antigenic mutant from a heterogeneous population. It is therefore assumed that a small challenge injection is necessary to decrease the probability of the presence of an antigenic mutant in the challenge inoculum. In our system, each trypanosome is not capable of changing its antigenic composition.