Bovine trypanosomosis: A threat to cattle production in Chena district, southwest Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis was carried out in Chena district, Kefa zone, southwest Ethiopia from September 2010 to January 2011. Blood samples were collected from 391 randomly selected local (zebu) breed cattle in three representative peasant associations (PAs). The buffy coat and Giemsa stained thin blood films examination techniques were used for parasite detection and identification. The packed cell volume (PCV) estimation was also conducted. From a total of 391 cattle, 6.9% (n = 27) of the animals were found positive for trypanosome infection. The trypanosome species observed across the study animals were T. congolense (4.89%), T. vivax (1.54%), and T. b. brucei (0.51%) as single infections. The infection rate of T. congolense and T. b. brucei varied significantly (P 0.05) in infection rate was found between male (7.79%) and female (5.62%) animals. The prevalence was 2.24% and 8.29% in young and adult cattle, respectively with significant difference (P < 0.05) between them. The prevalence rate in good, medium and poor body conditioned animals were 7.28%, 0.78% and 13.39%, respectively with a statistical significant difference (P < 0.05) among them. The mean PCV of the infected animals (17.56%) appeared significantly (P < 0.05) lower than the non-infected (25.4%). Even if, the present study indicated a low prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis in the study areas, its impact on production and potential transmission to others should not be neglected.

Differential IFN-Gamma (IFN-γ), Interleukin 10 (IL-10) and Cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) Responses in Natural Bovine Trypanosomosis in Nigeria

Trypanosomosis is major drawback to profitable livestock production in sub-Sahara African, including Nigeria. Knowledge of the cytokines production in the phase of natural infection may help to better diagnose, treat and prevent bovine trypanosomosis. The purpose of the this study was to determine the levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and cardiac troponin–I (cTnI) in the sera of cattle naturally infected with T. brucei, T. congolense and T. vivax and correlate these levels with parasitaemia and PCV of the infected animals. Five milliliter of blood samples were collected via the jugular vein from 411 randomly selected cattle into EDTA and non-citrated bottle. PCV was determined manually using HCT. Trypansomes were detected and characterized by microscopy and PCR, respectively. Serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-10 and cTnI were determined using commercial ELISA kit. Data were summarized using descriptive statistic and significance of differences determined by ANOVA. Of the 62 samples positive for trypanosomes by microscopy, 50 samples were confirmed to species level by PCR. The sera levels of IFN-γ, IL-10 and cTnI of infected cattle were higher than non-infected cattle. The differences were not significant (p γ, IL-10 and cTnI in cattle with natural trypanosomosis. Further investigation is required to understand the specific effect of trypanosomes on myocardiac integrity and interaction between the two cytokines in natural trypanosomosis in cattle.

Microscopy Underestimates the Prevalence of Trypanosomes’ Infection in Asymptomatic Cattle and Sheep in a Lowland Area within the Kenyan Rift Valley

Animal trypanosomosis continues to impede animal production in sub-Saharan Africa mostly in locations where tsetse flies are endemic. This has ended up devastating many livelihoods where majority of the people depend on livestock farming as source of food and income generation. The true picture on prevalence and identity of trypanosome species is scanty or unknown in most areas where tsetse flies are present. This study sought to investigate the prevalence of trypanosomes’ infection in cattle and sheep using microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. The use of PCR for detection and identification of trypanosomes has increased sensitivity of diagnostic method compared to conventional microscopy. Ninety asymptomatic free range grazed animals including 72 cattle and 18 sheep randomly sampled from farmers in Kerio Valley of Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya were used in the present study. Blood samples (5 ml) obtained from each of the animals were used for trypanosomes’ detection by microscopy and PCR assay methods. Microscopy results showed that only 2 cattle (2.8%) were positive for trypanosomosis infection. The microscopy results for the sheep showed zero prevalence. On the other hand, PCR results reported 26 trypanosomosis positive cattle (36.1%) and 3 (16.7%) trypanosomosis positive sheep. The PCR method was further used for trypanosomes’ species identification and the results showed that the 26 infected cattle were positive for T. congolense (12) and T. brucei (14) while the three sheep were all positive for T. brucei. The findings of the present study show that microscopy underestimates trypanosomosis detection and therefore cannot be relied upon as a tool for diagnosis. Besides, the method is weak in reporting species differentiation in a case where the morphological differences have only minor details or where the species are very close morphologically. This study recommends routine use of molecular biology-based technique for trypanosomosis detection in the Kenyan Rift Valley lowland areas.

Toward an Intelligent System for Taurine Cattle Recognition

Unlike zebus, taurine cattle have the natural ability to resist trypanosomosis, a parasitic disease endemic to the humid areas of West Africa. However, repeated crossbreeding between zebus and taurine cattle is jeopardizing the genetic heritage of the Taurines and their ability to resist trypanosomosis. To strengthen protection and conservation efforts, it is essential to accurately distinguish purebred taurines from crossbreds. In this study, five Machine Learning models were built using morphological data collected from 1968 cattle. These models were trained to determine whether a given individual is purebred taurine or not. The classifiers yielded promising results. The random forest model and RBF Kernel SVM performed the best with up to 86% and 85% accuracy respectively. Moreover, the study of the correlation coefficients and the feature importance scores allowed us to define the most discriminating morphological traits.

Classical clinical signs in rats experimemtally infected with Trypanosoma brucei

Objective:To investigate clinical signs in Trypanosoma brucei infection in albino rats.Methods:Fourteen rats grouped into 2 with 7 rats in each group were used to determine classical clinical manifestation of Trypanosoma brucei infection in rats.Group A rats were uninfected control and Group B rats were infected with Trypanosoma brucei.Results:Parasitaemia was recorded in Group B by(3.86±0.34)d and the peak of parasitaemia was observed at Day 5 post infection.Classical signs observed included squint eyes,raised whiskers,lethargy,no weight loss,pyrexia,isolation from the other rats,and starry hair coat.Conclusions:These signs could be diagnostic or aid in diagnosis of Trypanosoma brucei infection in rats.