Management of Camel Trypanosomiasis (Surra) among Pastoralists of Isiolo and Marsabit Counties, Kenya

Abstract

Camel trypanosomiasis or Surra is the single most important cause of morbidity and mortality in camels. The animals are kept under pastoral conditions often characterised by remote settings with poor infrastructure. These characteristics of pastoral areas do not attract either habitation or work of qualified veterinary service providers hence the camel keeping communities are left to play a major role to surmount any constraints that they encounter during animal husbandry. This paper presents management of camel trypanosomiasis, from an emic perspective, among camel keeping communities of Isiolo and Marsabit Counties. The information presented here within was collected in the above areas following field research activities undertaken in 2019. Results indicate that the communities were knowledgeable about the disease and majority rightfully associated camel trypanosomiasis with biting flies, the disease vector. The main symptoms observed for conclusion about surra to be made included loss of body condition, inability to walk long distances, rough hair coat, inability to feed well, reduced milk production in lactating females and abortion. The management of surra and its vectors among the camel keeping communities included use of both formal veterinary products and ethno-medicine. Drug stores (agrovets) were popular sources of veterinary drugs among the communities. The study recommends sensitization of the communities about use of veterinary drugs particularly those targeting camel trypanosomiasis and the disease vectors and, training of agrovet frontline staff to provide the desired information to herders as they buy drugs of their choice for effective disease management.