Prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis in Wolaita Zone Kindo Koish District of Ethiopia

Abstract

Cross sectional study was conducted in Kindo Kiosh District, Wolaita administrative zone of SNNPRS from October 2011 to June 2012 to determine the prevalence rate of bovine trypanosomosis. In the parasitological survey, blood samples of 268 cattle were examined using a buffy coat technique and thin smear under Gimsa stain. The packed cell volume (PCV) value of each animal was also measured using hematocrit reader. The overall prevalence of trypanosomosis was found to be 6.3%. The prevalence varied between different study areas; 5.6% in areas of low vegetation cover including (Henza, Chalenche and Moundena) to 7.2% in areas of high vegetation over (Moliticho and Fejena Mata) respectively. The most positive cases were due to Trypanosoma congolense (58.8%) followed by Trypanosoma vivax (29.4%) and mixed infection of these two species was observed in 11.8% of animals. The mean PCV value (%) of parasitaemic and aparasitaemic animals during the study period were 23.8±1.89 SD and 25.6±1.38 SD with a statistically significance (p 0.05). Key words: Bovine, Ethiopia, Kindo koisha district, prevalence, trypanosomosis.