| dc.description.abstract | Tungiasis is a neglected tropical disease (NTDs) caused by the permanent penetration of
the female sand flea into the epidermis of its host and get embedded. The disease causes
swelling and intense inflammation associated with the superinfection of bacterial
infections; this mechanism of inflammation still remains unknown. This study
determined immunological changes; haematological changes, cytokine and antibod of
experimentally raised guinea pigs during the natural cause of infection. Three to four
weeks old guinea pigs in cages were exposed to Tunga penetrans in highly infested
homes for a period four weeks. The animals were examined on a daily basis and blood
samples taken before exposure to the fleas and subsequently 5 days after flea penetration.
To determine the haematological changes, hematological analyzer was used and serum
concentration of selected cytokine and antibody using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent
Assays (ELISA) guinea pig specific kit. Statistical analysis was done using IBM-SPSS
software version 25.0 to determine descriptive statistics of means ± SD. Mann Whitney
U test was performed to establish differences among the infected and non-infected
groups. Post-hoc analysis was done using Wilcoxons signed rank tests to determine the
haematological changes, cytokine and antibody profiles which were subjected to pairwise
difference between the control and the precise days post-infestation. There was a
significant decrease in erythrograms mean values; red blood cells (RBC) (5.02±0.13),
haemoglobin (Hgb) (14.66±0.39), packed cell volume (PCV) (39.62±50), mean
corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) (24.27±0.18) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin
concentration (MCHC) (33.77±0.60) at {Citation}(p ≤ 0.05). A considerable increase in
leukograms mean values, white blood cells (WBC) (9.08±0.35), eosinophil (2.42±15),
neutrophils (4.27±0.70), monocyte (0.8±0.05) and lymphocyte (5.6±0.41) as compared
with control (p ≤ 0.05). The infected subjects showed a significant elevation of total
serum of pro-inflammatory cytokines both at day 10, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)
(235.39 ± 17 pg/mL), interferon gamma (IFN-γ) (425 ± 5 pg/mL) and significantly higher
levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines both at day 15 of post-infestation, interleukin -10
(IL-10) (367 ±17 pg/mL) and interleukin -4 (IL-4) (356±4 pg/mL) as compared to the
uninfected guinea pigs (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the circulating levels of both antibodies
increased significantly following natural infestation at day 15 immunoglobulin E (IgE)
(231.9±13 ng/mL) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) (371.9±15 ng/mL). Tungiasis is thus
characterized by changes in haematological parameters and the systemic levels of
cytokine and antibody indicating an alteration in the underlying immune mechanism to
the infection. Profiling of immunological responses implicated in tungiasis unravels the
underlying mechanisms on inflammation and development of a diagnostic tool, treatment
and control of the infection. | en_US |
