Prevalence of Trypanosoma vivax Infection of Cattle in south-west, Nigeria

Abstract

In south-west Nigeria, several Trypanosoma species are prevalent. These parasites cause trypanosomosis in livestock and man with cellular changes and tissue damages resulting in great loss in production and sometimes death. Hence, continuous surveillance is very necessary for monitoring and control of trypanosomosis. This study concentrated on the survey of trypanosome infection and its effect on both weight and haematological indices of Nigerian cattle. One hundred and eighty cattle were used in the study. The sex of cattle was noted while the age of cattle was determined using dentition and weight was determined using weigh-band. Blood sample was collected from 180 cattle, DNA was extracted from each cattle blood sample and PCR technique was adopted as a molecular diagnostic tool for prevalence study. Reference primer specific for Trypanosoma vivax (Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) gene) was used as a probe for the detection of the presence of parasite while gene amplification on argarose gel was considered positive for the cattle under consideration. The haematological analysis was also carried out using Auto-haemoanalyser. The prevalence rate of Trypanosoma vivax based on sex, age and breed of cattle was determined. The result revealed a prevalence rate of 87.22%. About 19.44% was due to infection in the males while 67.78% of the infection was recorded in the female cattle. For the prevalence within the age group; 0 -1 year was 21.11%, >1≤ 2 years was 21.11%, >2 ≤ 3 years was 32.22%, >3 years was 12.78%. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference between the weight, haematological parameters determined and the infection status. In the phase of infection, the hosts were able to maintain their red blood cell counts from a perceived compensatory response which was revealed in the erythrocycitc indices an packed cell volume. Though the prevalence rate recorded was high, the hosts were able to maintain the haematimetric indices, it can then be concluded that Muturu cattle has displayed trypanotolerant property