Prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis in Wemberma district of West Gojjam zone, North West Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey of bovine trypanosomosis was carried out in Wemberma district of west Gojjam zone, North West Ethiopia. From three peasant associations in the district (one from the midland and two from lowland), 384 cattle were randomly selected and examined for trypanosomosis. The prevalence of the disease as determined by buffy coat techinque was 7.81(95% CI = 5.11- 10.5%). Trypanosoma vivax and T. congolense were detected from buffy coat positive samples. Among the total of 30 cases of trypanosome infections detected 24(80%) of the infections were due to T.vivax and the rest 6(20 %) were due to T. congolense. No statistically significant associations(P>0.05) were observed between the disease and potential risk factors like age, sex and agroecology. However, when the different species of trypanosomes were considered, T. congolense infections were found only in the lowland. A significant association was observed (P<0.05) between the disease positivity and body condition score. When the mean packed cell volume of trypanosome infected animals was compared with that of non infected animals, it was significantly lower (P<0.05) in the infected animals, and the reduction was significantly lower (p<0.05) for T. congolense infection as compared with T. vivax infection. In conclusion, trypanosomsis was found to be important disease in the study area, and T. vivax was the more prevalent species and T. congolense with more negative impact in mean packed cell volume of affected animals.