Immunosuppressive Effects of Experimental Infection with Plosmodium gallinoceum

Abstract

Summary

Experimental infection of chickens with P. gallinaceum markedly suppressed the splenic PFC response to SRBC. Suppression was most pronounced when birds were immunized at the time of peak par-asitemia. The PFC response to E. coli LPS was of low magnitude in both normal and infected chickens; however, it, too, was suppressed in infected birds, but not to the same degree as observed in response to SRBC. Cellular immunity as evidenced by allograft rejection was not influenced by infection.

The authors thank Dr. B. J. Landau for his helpful suggestions in the preparation of this manuscript and L. L. Rank for statistical treatment of the data.