## 3 Results
### Haematological Parameters  
#### 3.6.1 Red Blood Cells  
Haematological parameters from the experimental groups were compared to reference values as described by [PERSON] et al. [27]. Changes in RBC concentration and haematocrit percentage of the experimental groups at different days post Tz infection are shown in Figure 5a,b, respectively. The RBC concentration was within the reference values range while some values were higher at day 7 in the Tz (7.71-9.62), D (7.30-8.44) and TzD groups (7.80-9.23) when compared to the reference values (6.39-8.01). At day 14 pi, the RBC levels were higher in some individual animals, while some were within the reference value in the Tz (8.17-9.19), D (8.21-9.20) and TzD (7.57-8.81) when compared to the reference value (6.39-8.01). Additionally, at day 21 pi, an increase was observed in the Tz (7.49-8.92), D (8.83-10.09) and TzD (8.94-9.49) when compared to the reference range (6.39-8.01). The RBC concentration were higher than the reference value range for the present study in all the experimental groups at day 28 pi in the Tz (7.29-8.18), D (8.96-9.99) and TzD (7.70-8.76), although some values were within the reference range. At day 35 pi, the Tz (8.50-9.18), D (7.73-8.99) and TzD (7.79-9.03) had higher concentrations when compared to the reference value (6.39-8.01), although some values in the D and TzD were within the reference range, while some were high. The D group showed a significant increase (\(p<0.05\)) in RBC at day 28 pi (Figure 5a). Haematocrit percentages were higher in all experimental groups, except on day 28 in the Tz (43.86-48.10) group, where the values were within the reference value range (42-49). Groups D and TzD had a significantly higher percentage of haematocrit (\(p<0.05\)) at day 21 pi and a significantly higher percentage of haematocrit (\(p<0.05\)) in the D at day 28 pi in comparison to Tz and TzD groups. However,  
Figure 4: Liver glycogen concentrations (**a**) and muscle glycogen concentrations (**b**) in male Sprague Dawley rats that were; comorbid with type 2 diabetes mellitus (TzD), diabetic (D) and infected with _Trichinella zimbabwensis_ (Tz). Values are presented as mean \(\pm\) SEM (\(n=6\) in each group).  
Figure 3: Insulin concentration in groups of male Sprague Dawley rats that were; comorbid with type 2 diabetes mellitus (TzD), diabetic (D) and infected with _Trichinella zimbabwensis_ (Tz). Values are presented as mean \(\pm\) SEM (\(n=6\) for each group).  
at day 35 pi, a decrease was observed in both the D and TzD (Figure 5b). The haemoglobin concentration was within the reference value range, while some values were higher at day 7 pi in the Tz (13.53-17.13) and TzD (14.58-17.23) groups when compared to the reference values (13.50-15.90). At day 14 pi, an increase in the Tz (15.23-17.30) and D (15.25-16.95) was observed while in the TzD (13.90-16.15), some values were high when compared to the reference value (13.50-15.90). There was a significantly higher percentage (\(p<0.05\)) of haemoglobin concentration observed at day 21 pi in the D group. Significantly higher (\(p<0.01\)) levels of haemoglobin were also observed in the TzD group on day 21. However, there was a slight increase in the D (14.65-16.85) group on day 28 and T (15.23-16.40) group at day 35, although some values were still within the reference range when compared to the reference values (13.50-15.90) (Table 3).