Prevalence and control implications of bovine trypanosomes in endemic areas of northern Uganda

摘要

African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT), a disease complex caused by tsetse fly-transmittedTrypanosoma brucei brucei,T. congolensesavannah ITS,and T. vivax, continues to inflict heavy losses to the animal industry in terms of decreased livestock production and productivity. Live bait technology and chemotherapy have been used as a control strategy in northern Uganda since 2006 with minimal success. Here, we report the results of a cross-sectional study carried out in Lango subregion, Uganda, to assess the species prevalence of bovine trypanosome in cattle using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of trypanosome ribosomal DNA (rDNA).Blood samples were collected from 1090 cattle by ear vein puncture and screened using a single pair of primers designed to amplify ITS ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Our results indicate an overall prevalence of 40.18% (438/1090, 95% CI 30.82-54.51).T. vivaxconstituted 32.66% (356/1090),T. congolense2.39% (26/1090),T. brucei1.28% (14/1090),T. godfreyi0.09%(1/1090),T. bruceiandT. congolense0.36% (4/1090),T. bruceiandT. vivax1.47% (16/1090),T. vivaxandT. congolense1.65% (18/1090),T. vivaxandT. simiae0.18% (2/1090),and T. vivaxandT. godfreyi0.09% (1/1090) of infections.Over 91.7% of infections involved single species, while 9.5% were mixed infections. Over 90.2% (37/41) of the mixed infections involvedT. vivaxas one of the species, while 53.7% (22/41) involvedT. congolense.The high prevalence of AAT and the continued presence ofT. bruceiraise public health concerns because of the zoonotic implications. An integrated approach that involves mass treatment of cattle, vector, and animal movement control should be adopted to reduce the risk of both AAT and HAT.