Therapeutic efficacy of Albendazole and Mefloquine alone or in combination against early and late stages of Trichinella spiralis infection in mice

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of mefloquine alone or combined with albendazole in reduced doses against T. spiralis infection. One hundred and twenty albino mice were orally infected with 200 T. spiralis larvae/mouse. Drugs were administered during the enteral phase on days 1 to 3 and on the chronic phase on days 35 to 37 post-infection, and mice were sacrificed, respectively, at days 7 or 48 post-infection to count mature intestinal worms or encysted muscle larvae. The effect of the treatment on the histology of the target organs of each phase, intestine and diaphragm, was also evaluated. A significant decrease in intestinal worms was found in all treated groups relative to the untreated control group at a peak of 93.7% in the combination albendazole-mefloquine group. Results in all treated groups demonstrated a significant decrease in muscle larvae relative to untreated control groups, achieving 86.2 % in the combined albendazole-mefloquine group. There was a marked improvement in the intestinal and muscular architecture in all treated groups compared to the non-treated control group. Notably, the albendazole-mefloquine group showed an almost complete recovery. The combined albendazole-mefloquine low dose regimen had the highest effect on reducing parasite burden and restoring normal histological architecture.