Cross-sectional study of cattle Babesiosis and associated risk factors in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan

Abstract

A cross-sectional was performed in Nyala, South Darfur State, Sudan, over the time from November to December 2016, to determine the prevalence of bovine babesiosis and the potential risk factors associated with the infection. A total of 300 blood samples were randomly collected from three different areas, slaughterhouse, animal fauna, and dairy farms. Data on the risk factors, such as area, breed, age, sex, body condition, and tick infestation were recorded using questionnaires. The overall prevalence was 59.3% (178/300) using the microscopic examination of Giemsa stained slides. A significant variation in the prevalence of bovine babesiosis was observed among the three areas, whereas dairy farms (74%) having a significantly higher (p = 0.001) prevalence than the other areas. A factor found to be significantly associated with the infection with Babesia was the breed of cattle (p = 0.000), where the prevalence was higher in the crossbreed cattle (74%) than local breed cattle (52%). Other risk factors, like body condition, sex, age, and tick infestation were not found to be significantly associated with bovine babesiosis. However, the highest prevalence rate was recorded in males (65.3%) than females (58.1%), in young animals (62.5%) than adult (58.6%), in animals with poor body condition (64.3%) than the other, and in the animal non-infested with ticks (60.5%) than animal infested with ticks (55.8%). The present study revealed that the number of cattle suffering from babesiosis in Nyala was great. Therefore, sampling during different seasons and using molecular diagnostic methods are recommended for accurate prevalence estimate.

Keywords: Babesia, risk factors, cattle, Nyala, Sudan