Plasmodium juxtanucleare is one of the agents that cause
avian malaria in chickens and little is known about the treatment of the
infection. The aim of this study was to compare the
antimalarial activities of
rutin and
chloroquine in chickens infected with P. juxtanucleare after immunosuppression with
corticosteroid.
Antimalarial activity was verified in 33 fowls by evaluation of
parasitemia levels in Giemsa-stained blood smears taken to 30 days.
Rutin did not exert a reduction in
parasitemia from P. juxtanucleare when compared to
chloroquine treatment that kept the parasites at a low level, demonstrating its
antimalarial effect. During the course of the
infection, the trophozoite stage predominated (80%), followed by schizont (17%) and gametocyte (3%). Maximum
parasitemia levels were recorded on day 12 in control and
rutin groups. There were no significant differences in the hematocrit values,
weight body or the temperature of the fowls among the groups evaluated (p > 0.05).