Fig. 5

Course of parasitemia (mean ± standard deviation) in BALB/c mice inoculated with 1 × 10⁷Babesia microti and treated with either vehicle, artesunate (ARS) 25 mg/kg, mefloquine (MEF) 50 mg/kg, tafenoquine (TAF) 10 mg/kg (base), artesunate (ARS) 25 mg/kg + mefloquine (MEF) 50 mg/kg and artesunate (ARS) 25 mg/kg + tafenoquine (TAF) 10 mg/kg (base). ARS dissolved in 5% sodium bicarbonate was administered intraperitoneally, MEF dissolved in 20% ethanol in polyethylene glycol in water was given orally, and TAF dissolved in 10% DMSO in polyethylene glycol in water was given orally. ARS was given daily for 5 days starting at day 4 of infection (green arrows), and MEF or TAF were given in alternate days (days 4, 6 and 8: blue arrows). Parasitemia was checked by microscopy. Mice in both TAF groups showed lower levels of parasitemia on day 8 (P = 0.0079 for all groups compared with each TAF group) and all mice cleared parasitemia on day 9. The parasitemia of the mice in the other groups (ARS alone or MEF) were not significantly different from the parasitemia in the vehicle group