[Effects of chronic ethanol intoxication on the evolution of experimental trypanosomiasis cruzi in mice]

The effect of chronic ethyl alcohol intoxication on the evolution of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in mice was studied by two experimental procedures: (1) mice after 60 days of infection with a myotropic strain of T. cruzi were submitted to chronic alcoholic intoxidation receiving a 7% ethanol solution as only liquid source for six months; (2) mice chronically intoxicated with ethanol during five months were infected with the same strain of T. cruzi and were followed up for 45 days drinking the 7% alcoholic solution. In comparison with the infected group, not treated with ethanol, the infected mice that received the ethanol showed: a) similar mortality in the two experiments; (b) higher parasitemia in the acute phase and more frequent blood parasites in the chronic phase; (c) myocarditis with less severe cellular exudation but with increased fibrosis; (d) in the skeletal muscle, milder myositis and low frequency of arteritis and hyaline thrombi.