Induction of protective immunity to Brugia pahangi in jirds by drug-abbreviated infection.

Protective immunity of homologous challenge infection was examined in jirds after drug-abbreviated infection with Brugia pahangi. Mebendazole (MBZ) treatment at the early prepatent (5-7 weeks of post infection) or the late prepatent (7-9 weeks of post infection) period was highly effective in causing almost complete eradication of the primary infection. After challenge infection, the worm burden was significantly reduced 19% (31.1 in average) and 77% (9.5) to that of the controls (38.8 and 41.7), respectively. The magnitude of eosinophil response paralleled the degree of protection. No or only a few microfilariae were seen after challenge infection in jirds treated during the prepatent periods. They were also resistant to intravenous challenge with the microfilariae of B. pahangi. MBZ treatment at the patent period was, on the contrary, incomplete against primarily infected adult worms, and was not able to induce either significant protection (30.1 vs 33.1 in control) or eosinophil response to the challenge infection.