Prevalence of Bovine Trypanosomosis and Apparent Density of Tsetse Flies in Eastern Part of Dangur District, North Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Trypanosomosis is a parasitic disease that causes serious economic losses in livestock, in sub-Saharan African countries. A cross sectional study was conducted from October 2011 to March 2012 in the eastern part of Dangur district, Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, Ethiopia to determine the prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis and apparent density of tsetse flies. For prevalence study, a total of 543 blood samples were collected from randomly selected animals. Packed Cell Volume (PCV) was determined and samples were examined for the presence of trypanosomes using the buffy coat technique. In total, 46 (8.5%) of the samples were tested positive for trypanosomes. The majority of the infections were caused by Trypanosoma congolense (95.7%), and the remaining was caused by Trypanosoma vivax. The difference between prevalence of trypanosomes among study sites was statistically significant (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between sexes and age groups. The mean PCV value of parasitemic animals (22.6%) was significantly lower (p<0.05) than that of aparasitemic animals (27.0%). A total of 528 tsetse flies were caught by deploying 78 monopyramidal traps. Of these tsetse flies, 71.8% were Glossina tachinoides and the remaining were G. morsitans submorsitans. The overall apparent density of tsetse flies was 3.4 flies per trap per day (F/T/D). In conclusion, this study revealed that trypanosomes and their vectors are prevalent and pose a huge threat to cattle production in the area. Therefore, proper intervention strategies should be put in place and implemented to minimize the burden of the disease.