First field investigation report on the prevalence of trypanosomosis in camels in northern Tanzania

摘要

Parasitological evaluation of equine trypanosomosis in 193 camels (49 male and 144 female) from 8 geographical localities of northern, Tanzania were carried out during the period of June-August 2010. The evaluation was carried out using Giemsa stained microscopy examination of blood smear. The overall detected prevalence of camel trypanosomosis was 8.2% with highest prevalence in Kilindi district (100%) and with most of the positive slides showing 2+ and 3+. A higher infection was found in brought-in as compared to homebred camels (18.1% vs. 0.9%; P<0.05). When body score condition was considered, infection rate was 100, 6.8 and 3.5% in camels recorded to have poor, fair and good body score, respectively. It was concluded that camel trypanosomosis is prevalent in camel herds and administrative localities, source, and body condition score were identified as important risk factors for the distribution of camel trypanosomosis in the area under study. To our knowledge, this is the first report for the detection of trypanosome pathogen in camels in Tanzania.