Chemotherapy of African Sleeping Sickness. I. Chemotherapy of Experimental Trypanosoma Gambiense Infection in Mice (Mus Musculus) with Nitrofurazone

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Abstract
Summary The virulence of a strain of Trypanosoma gambiense was exalted to such an extent that it produced acute infection in mice (Mus musculus) which invariably terminated fatally within a week. Acute, always fatal Tr. gambiense infection in white mice was cured with adequate doses of nitrofurazone. A total dose of 50 mg./kg. body weight had only a suppressive effect. However, with an increase in total dosage from 150 mg./kg. to 450 mg./kg., divided into small doses and administered daily, cures were obtained in from 22 to 100 per cent of the cases. The curative results were approximately the same whether the drug was administered intraperitoneally or orally. Preliminary screening tests revealed also three other nitrofuran compounds effective against Tr. gambiense infection in mice. Nitrofuran No. 65 (5-nitro-2-furfurylidene amino biuret) produced a suppressive effect, while nitrofurans No. 60 (5-nitro-2-furaldehyde thiosemicarbazone) and No. 67 [5-nitro-2-furaldehyde 2-(2-hydroxyethyl semicarbazone)] were curative. It is recommended that human cases of African trypanosomiasis, refractory to other known trypanocides, be treated orally with nitrofurazone.

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