Thrombocytopenia associated with experimental VL. (A) C57BL/6 WT mice were infected with 3 × 107L donovani amastigotes IV for 28 days. Mice were bled every week via a tail vein for platelet counts, and tissues were harvested at day 28 PI for further analysis. (B) The parasite burden was calculated as LDUs on Giemsa-stained liver (n = 18) and spleen (n = 17) impression smears on day 28 PI. (C) Postmortem liver and spleen weights were measured in infected (n = 19) and uninfected (n = 9) mice. (D) Platelet count (left) and MPV (right) were monitored weekly after infection in infected (n = 12) and uninfected (n = 15) mice. (E) Blood smears of uninfected (i) and infected (ii) mice show the presence of giant platelets on the infected mouse blood smear. Representative normal platelets (thin red arrows) and giant platelets (thick red arrow) are indicated. Original magnification ×63. All data were pooled from 3 different independent experiments and analyzed using the unpaired Student t test comparing the mean ± SD of uninfected vs infected at each time point. **P < .01; ****P < .0001.