Prevalence Of Tsetse Fly And Bovine Trypanosomosis In The Biological Control Of Tsetse Fly Project (Bicot) Within Afia Local Government Area Of Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The prevalence of tsetse fly and bovine trypanosomosis was studied in the biological control of tsetse fly project (BICOT) area within Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa state, Nigeria between May and November 2000. The project area, covering approximately 1500 km2 was virtually freed of Glossina palpalis palpalis and to some extent G tachinoides by Dec. 1984. By 1987, however, sterile male releases were suspended and remained so till the time of this study due to lack of funding. Ten biconical traps were set at an interval of 25 meters along each river/stream in the study area. In all, 466 flies were caught out of which 454 were G.p palpalis while the remaining 12 were G.tachinoides. The result of the dissection of the insects showed that 9 (1.9%) of tsetse flies caught were positive for Trypanosoma vivax. All infected flies were G.p palpalis. Also blood samples were collected from 200 cattle in the abattoir and 200 in the sedentary cattle in the area. The blood samples were examined using standard parasitological techniques. The result showed that, in sedentary cattle, 18(9%) were positive for trypanosomes while in the abattoir 21(10.5%) were positive for trypanosomes. There was however no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the numbers of cases defected in sedentary cattle and abattoir cattle. Most of the infections in sedentary cattle (67%) and abattoir cattle (81%) were due to T. congolense. Keywords: Tsetse fly ,bovine trypanosomosis, biological control, LafiaJournal of Agriculture and Social Research Vol. 8 (1) 2008: pp. 8-12