Iron supplementation therapy in the reversion of the haematological and immunological defects accompanying canine ancylostomosis.

For the purpose of investigating the effects of iron supplementation on the therapy of experimental canine ancylostomosis, twenty 8-week old pups were rando mly divided into four equal groups A, B, C and D. Groups A, B and C were serially infected bi-weekly with infective Ancylostoma caninum (L3) larvae up to 98 days. Thereafter, Groups A and B were treated with pyrantel pamoate and dextrose saline infusion with or without iron dextran supplementation, respectively. Pups in Group C were left untreated as were the uninfected control pups in Group D. Clinical observations revealed a serial reversion of the distressing hookworm disease signs in only the two infected and treated Groups A and B, but not in the infected but untreated pups in Group C. Both the haematological, and immunological parameters were most elevated in the iron-treated pups in Group A, with high and positive correlation coefficient (r) of + 0.94, 0.83, 0.41 and 0.98 for the respective Groups A, B, C and D. Iron therapy was suggested as being responsible for the prompt haematological and immunological reversion observed in Group A pups through its facilitation of the haemoglobin synthesis and the iron-dependent mitotic cell division processes.