Adult mice were submitted to different degrees o f protein restriction fo r five weeks (4.75, 9 .5,14.25 and 19% o Clinical and epidemiological observations suggest th at m aln u tritio n , m ainly protein deprivation, plays an im portant role in the development of infections which include protozoal d iseases2 8. A lthough m ost rep o rts show enhancement of infections in malnourished patients or experimental animals, some observations have shown increased resistance to malaria infection in rats that were submitted to protein restriction3 10. Moreover, while protein deprived mice infected with Leishmania mexicana showed arrest of lesion growth during the five initial weeks of infection, with subsequent development of non-healing lesions, normally nourished mice developed progressively healing lesions9.The effects of malnutrition on the evolution of Chagas' disease has not yet been evaluated. There are few reports showing enhancement of parasitemia and more severe lesions in the heart of infected rats submitted to diets with deficient amounts of thiamine, riboflavine, pantothenate or pyridoxine16 17 1819.
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