## 3 Results
### Body Weight and Blood Glucose Level  
The mean weekly body weight changes observed throughout the period of experiment for all experimental groups are shown in Figure 2a. There was no significant difference  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Water and Food Intake**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Days Post T. _zimbabwensis_ Infection**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Experimental Groups**} \\ \cline{3-5}  & & **Tz** & **D** & **TzD** \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Water intake (mL)} & Day 0 & 243.3 \(\pm\) 13.33 & 703.3 \(\pm\) 72.99 *** & 620.0 \(\pm\) 68.37 *** \\  & Day 7 & 155.6 \(\pm\) 20.34 & 640.0 \(\pm\) 69.19 *** & 490.0 \(\pm\) 47.17 *** \\  & Day 14 & 206.3 \(\pm\) 18.75 & 793.8 \(\pm\) 85.62 *** & 631.3 \(\pm\) 51.41 ** \\  & Day 21 & 258.0 \(\pm\) 22.11 & 808.3 \(\pm\) 88.19 *** & 641.7 \(\pm\) 58.33 ** \\  & Day 28 & 300.0 \(\pm\) 8.00 & 937.5 \(\pm\) 12.50 ** & 772.5 \(\pm\) 12.52 ** \\  & Day 35 & 360.0 \(\pm\) 10.00 & 962.5 \(\pm\) 12.50 ** & 762.5 \(\pm\) 12.50 \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Food intake (g)} & Day 0 & 176.2 \(\pm\) 14.49 & 248.5 \(\pm\) 19.47 & 201.2 \(\pm\) 26.68 \\  & Day 7 & 124.0 \(\pm\) 11.62 & 208.8 \(\pm\) 27.17 & 156.4 \(\pm\) 39.11 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Day 14 & 140.0 \(\pm\) 22.43 & 248.3 \(\pm\) 25.37 & 213.0 \(\pm\) 63.32 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Day 21 & 173.3 \(\pm\) 10.68 & 259.3 \(\pm\) 38.28 & 228.3 \(\pm\) 25.78 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Day 28 & 193.5 \(\pm\) 5.50 & 330.0 \(\pm\) 22.00 & 293.5 \(\pm\) 19.50 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Day 35 & 213.0 \(\pm\) 5.00 & 341.0 \(\pm\) 1.00 & 303.0 \(\pm\) 2.08 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Mean water and food intake in male Sprague Dawley rats comorbid with type 2 diabetes mellitus and _Trichinella zimbabwensis_. Sprague Dawley rats were infected with _T. zimbabwensis_ (Tz); with induced type 2 diabetes (D) and co-morbid with _T. zimbabwensis_ and type 2 diabetes (TzD). Day 0 represents the day of Tz infection to diabetic rats with L3 from muscles. \(n=6\) for each group. Values with asterisks represent significant differences between the experimental groups, (**_p_ < 0.01, ***_p_ < 0.001).  
Figure 1: Mean number (\(\pm\)SEM) of _Trichinella zimbabwensis_ adult worms (AW) and larvae per gram (lpg) of muscle larvae (ML) recovered from the intestines and muscles of male Sprague Dawley rats infected with _T. zimbabwensis_ (Tz) and male diabetic rats infected with Tz (TzD). Values are presented as means and vertical bars indicate SEM (\(n=6\) in each group) and asterisks represent significant differences between the Tz and the TzD groups (***_p_ < 0.001).  
observed among the three groups at day 7 pi. However, there was a significant decrease (\(p<0.05\)) in the body weight of the TzD group at day 14 pi and a significant increase (\(p<0.05\)) at day 35 pi, respectively, when compared to the Tz and D groups. A reduction in body weight in the D group was observed at day 21 pi and a significant decrease (\(p<0.001\)) at day 35 pi was also observed when compared to the Tz and TzD groups. Interestingly, there was a steady body weight increase in the Tz group throughout the experimental period (Figure 2a).  
Blood glucose results from this study were compared to the reference values by [PERSON] et al. [27]. Blood glucose were within the reference value range during the study (4.53-6.70) for the Tz group when compared to the reference values (4.46-7.24), except for the D and TzD groups, which were diabetic (Figure 2b). Blood glucose concentrations in the D group was significantly higher (\(p<0.001\)) at day 7, 14, 28 and 35 pi compared to the TzD group (Figure 2b).