Trypanosome Prevalence in Cattle in Lere Area in State, North Central

J.N. Abenga1* F.N.C. Enwezor1 F.A.G. Lawani1 H.O. Osue1 E.C.D. Ikemereh1

Key words Summary

Cattle – Trypanosoma – Morbidity – Trypanosome prevalence in cattle was estimated in August 2001 in selected

Nigeria. farms in the three districts of Lere local government area of , PATHOLOGIE PARASITAIRE communication North Central Nigeria. The study was subsequent to reports of trypanosomosis ■ outbreaks, which had resulted in deaths of cattle that led to yearly migration of seminomadic Fulanis out of the area, especially during the rains. Blood samples collected randomly from 526 cattle were examined for presence of trypanosomes using the buffy coat technique and Giemsa thin blood smears. Overall, 48 animals were found infected: 39 (81%) with Trypanosoma vivax, 7 (15%) with T. congolense and 2 (4%) with T. brucei. The infection rates in young and adult cattle were 6 and 10%, respectively, which was not significant (P > 0.05). From this study, it is clear that trypanosomosis is still a major obstacle to livestock production in Nigeria and that the incidence rate is similar in young and adult animals.

■ INTRODUCTION was effectively controlled to below epidemic proportions (10). Up till 1998, sleeping sickness cases were still identified in this area Animal trypanosomosis is one of the main pathological constraints and other parts of Nigeria (5). on the development of animal production in sub-Saharan Africa (8, Furthermore, in a Fulani herd located one kilometer away from 12) and causes annual losses estimated at US$ 1 billion (3). Tsetse Saminaka, 124 out of 150 (83%) animals were reported to have flies are the main vectors in this part of Africa. In Nigeria, tsetse died in a space of three years. The remaining 26 animals were flies still infest 80% of the nation’s land mass including the high examined during a spot survey and were all found to be infected lands of Jos, Mambilla and Obudu plateaux previously known to with Trypanosoma vivax (Abenga et al., pers. commun., 2000). For be tsetse free (16). The risk of transmission is primarily linked to these reasons, a more extended study was undertaken to assess the the intensity of the encounters between vectors and hosts (12). prevalence of trypanosome infection in cattle in the area for In the last three years, the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis appropriate control measures that will permit the exploitation of Research (NITR) has received reports of outbreaks of animal the abundant fodder and water for large scale cattle production. trypanosomosis, which resulted in deaths of cattle with consequent yearly migration of seminomadic Fulanis out of Lere local ■ MATERIALS AND METHODS government area (LGA) during the rainy seasons. Lere LGA used to be a known human African trypanosomosis (sleeping sickness) Study area endemic focus between 1930 and 1960 (4), after which the disease Lere LGA of Kaduna State (Figure 1) is situated at latitude 10° 50’ N and longitude 7° 54’ N. The LGA is made up of three districts: 1. Pathology, Epidemiology and Statistics Division, Garu, Kadaru and Lere with Saminaka in Lere district as its Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research, PMB 2077, Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria headquarter. The study was conducted in these three districts in * Corresponding Author August 2001. The study area with an estimated human population of about 180,000 and a cattle population of 1500 was an old

E-mail: [email protected] Revue Élev. Méd. vét. Pays trop., 2004, 57 (1-2) : 45-48 45 ■ PATHOLOGIE PARASITAIRE communication Trypanosomes inCattleNorthCentralNigeria 46 Revue Élev. Méd. vét. Pays trop., 2004, 57 (1-2) : 45-48 ateNm u. vT bNm u. vT bNm u. vT Tb (%) Tc (%) Tv (%) Num.+ Num. (%) sampled Tb (%) Tc (%) (%) Tv (%) Num.+ Num. sampled (%) Tb (%) Tc (%) Tv (%) sampled Num.+ Num. Age Cattle ≤ er221 44 3.)6(45 9 0 76 10 22 4.)2 9.)01(4.5) 0 21(95.5) 22(42.3) 52 0 0 8(100) 8(7.6) 105 1(9) 6(54.5) 4(36.4) 11(4.4) 252 > 1year oa 1 5(.)7(66 4.)1(.)108(.)8(0)006 5(73 4(6 1(4) 0 24(96) 25(37.3) 67 0 0 8(100) 8(5.7) 140 1(6.6) 7(46.6) 7(46.6) 15(4.7) 319 Total Tv = for domesticuseaswelldrinkingwaterthelivestock. few pondssurvivethedryseasonandserveassourceofwater and pondswhichusuallydryupduringtheseason,although are afewriversintheareabutthereseasonalstreams November toAprilandarainyseasonfromMayOctober.There zone, whichischaracterizedbyadryseasonperiodfrom endemic sleepingsicknessarea(4,14);itlieswithinthesubhumid er6 59 7)1(5 500001 2)3(0)00 0 3(100) 3(20) 15 0 0 0 0 35 0 1(25) 3(75) 4(5.9) 67 1 year Num. Figure 1: Figure districts and cattle settlement areas surveyed. areas settlement cattle and districts Trypanosoma vivax + Kahugu = Numberof Map of Lere local government showing the three the showing government local Lere of Map

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m a T. brucei Prevalence oftrypanosomeinfections Saminaka Table I with inaccessible duringtherains. season. Infrastructuredevelopmentispoorwithsomeareasbeing Bauchi Statewiththeiranimalsandreturnattheendofrainy the rainyseason,manyofcattlerearersgoontranshumanceto maize productionandsupplytoseveralpartsofNigeria.During production istheusualpractice,andLGAknownforits fishing andtrading.Mixedfarmingofcropcultivationanimal spoken language.Themainoccupationsofthepeoplearefarming, Hausawa, Amarwa,WarsaandFulani,Hausaisthegeneral There aremorethantendifferenttribes,includingKurama, Settlement patternsaremainlyhamletsandfarmcompounds. district, 46.6%with cases. Finally,4.7%oftheanimalswerefoundinfectedinGaru infections, bringingtoeleventhenumberoftrypanosome-infected districts wereanalyzedusingthesampleTtest. age wereanalyzedusingANOVA,whiletheprevalencesbetween films. Theratesofinfectioninanimalsunderandoveroneyear based ontheirmorphologicalstructurefromGiemsa-stainedthin Giemsa-stained thinsmears.Trypanosomespecieswereidentified the buffycoatdarkground/phasecontrasttechnique(13)and the fieldlaboratoryforanalysis.Thesampleswereanalyzedusing milliliter ofbloodandconveyedincoldboxeswithicepacksto tetra aceticacid(EDTA)dispensedasonemilligrampowderper jugular veinintospecimenbottlescontainingethylenediamine From eachanimal,fivemillilitersofbloodweretakenfromthe Fulani breedsofcattle(Bunaji)andfewSokotoGudali. were regardedasadults.Theanimalsmadeupmostlyofwhite under wereconsideredasyoungcalves,whereasthoseoveroneyear cattle ofdifferentages,sexesandbreeds.Animalsoneyear A systematicrandomsamplingwasusedtoobtainasampleof526 Animal samplinganddiagnosis Glossina tachinoides savanna zonesfoundinthearea.Leredistrictsfallwithin there arenowmanyspeciesofboththeNorthernandderived (Figure 2).However,becauseoftheeffectsannualbushfires, Vegetation istypicaloftheNorthernGuineasavannahwoodland animals, fourshowed three old. Ofthese67youngcattle,parasitologicalexaminationsshowed In the319cattlesampledinGarudistrict,67wereunderoneyear ■ RESULTS T. brucei T. vivax (Table I). and one T. vivax, and T. vivax, T. congolense G. palpalis 46.6% with six T. congolense infestation belt(15). infections. Inthe252adult T. congolense and one and 6.6% T. brucei Trypanosomes des bovins au centre nord du Nigeria

In the 140 cattle sampled in Kudaru district, 35 were young, and of survey within the EEC-trypanosomosis control project between these 35 young animals, none was positive for trypanosomes. In the 1989 and 1996 (16). This suggests that animal trypanosomosis is a 105 adult animals, eight were positive for T. vivax only. Finally, problem in this area and the present findings agree with the work 5.7% of the animals were found infected with T. vivax (Table I). by Agu et al. (1), who reported a rate of 9.4% in parts of Kaduna State. Similarly, a much higher rate of 53.4% was reported by Sixty-seven cattle (15 young and 52 adult) were examined in Lere Maikaje (11) during an outbreak of bovine trypanosomosis in district. Of the young cattle, three were positive for T. vivax only. Kaura LGA of Kaduna State. The high prevalences of animal Of the 52 adult cattle, 21 were positive for T. vivax and one for T. trypanosomosis in Kaduna State appear to indicate a general brucei. In other words, 37.3% of the animals were infected, 96% increase in the menace of the disease in the State. with T. vivax and 4% with T. brucei. Further analysis of the results between districts showed that Further analysis between districts revealed that there was no Lere had the highest trypanosome prevalence (37.3%), followed significant difference (P > 0.05) within the sample sizes and by Kudaru and Garu with 5.7% and 4.7%, respectively, but the prevalences in the three districts in either young or adult animals. results were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The majority Even though Lere district recorded the highest prevalence overall, (81%) of the trypanosome infections detected and identified there was no statistical significant difference between the districts parasitologically in cattle were T. vivax, whereas T. congolense (P > 0.05). and T. brucei accounted for the minority (15 and 4%, respectively). Calves less than one year old had an infection rate of ■ DISCUSSION 6% compared to 10% obtained in animals more than one year old, but this was not statistically significant; the infections were mainly This study has shown that animal trypanosomosis is prevalent in due to T. vivax. This merely indicated that the incidence rate was the three districts of Lere LGA with an overall trypanosome similar in young and adult animals. The dominance of T. vivax infection rate of 9.1% confirming earlier reports of trypanosomosis infections observed in this study agrees with several workers’ menace in the area, upon which the study was predicated. The findings in Nigeria and West Africa, (6, 7, 9). This could overall rate of 9.1% positive cases was higher than the 4.3% be ascribed to the mechanical transmission or the shorter overall prevalence rate for Nigeria obtained from the country wide development cycle in the anterior station of the tsetse fly (2).

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8° 8° Makurdi Ibadan Sudan zone Nsukka Northern Guinea zone Southern Guinea zone Lagos 6° Derived savanna 6° Rain forest Calabar Freshwater swamp 0 100 200 300 km Mangrove swamp Lere endemic area 4° N Northern limit of tsetse 4° N

4° E6° 8° 10° 12° 14° E

Figure 2: Vegetation map of Nigeria showing Lere endemic area within the Northern Guinea zone. Revue Élev. Méd. vét. Pays trop., 2004, 57 (1-2) : 45-48 47 ■ PATHOLOGIE PARASITAIRE communication Trypanosomes inCattleNorthCentralNigeria 48 Revue Élev. Méd. vét. Pays trop., 2004, 57 (1-2) : 45-48 trop. Med. Hyg., Hyg., Med. trop. Northern Nigeriafromtheearliesttimetopresentday. 4. DUGGANA.J.,1962.Asurveyofsleepingsicknesscontrolin World Bank,88p. Africa: initialexperienceswithnewapproaches.Washington,DC,USA, 3. DEHAANC.,BEKURES.,1991.Animalhealthservicesinsub-Saharan Nigeria. Prevalence oftrypanosomosisinsheepandgoatsaregionNorthern 2. DANIELA.D.,JOSHUAR.A.,KALEJAIYEJ.O.,DADAA.J.,1994. adultes. était semblablechezlesjeunes commechezlesanimaux important àlaproductionde bétailetsontauxd’incidence a montréquelatrypanosomose continuaitd’êtreunobstacle ficatifs (P>0,05):respectivement 6et10p.100.Cetteétude d’infection chezlesbovinsjeunesetadultesontéténonsigni- Mots-clés : : Mots-clés lisant latechniquedu hasard etexaminéspourlarecherchedetrypanosomesenuti- Des échantillonssanguinsde526bovinsontétéprélevés au nomades horsdecettezone,pendantlespluiesenparticulier. ainsi provoquédesmigrationsannuellesFulanissemi- nosomose ayantcausédesmortalitéschezlesbovinset consécutive àdesrapportssurlaprésencedefoyerstrypa- l’Etat deKadunaaucentrenordduNigeria.Cetteétudeaété communes delazoneadministrativeLere,situéedans en août2001dansdesfermessélectionnéeslestrois La prévalencedetrypanosomeschezdesbovinsaétéestimée du Nigeria dans larégiondeLerel’EtatKadunaaucentrenord Ikemereh E.C.D. Abenga J.N.,EnwezorF.N.C.,LawaniF.A.G.,OsueH.O., Résumé Nigeria. bovine trypanosomosisinsomepartsofKadunaandPlateauStates, 1. AGUW.E.,KALEJAIYEJ.O.,OLATUNDEA.O.,1989.Pevalenceof REFERENCES Halid, forfundingthestudy. assistance andtotheDirectorGeneral,NITR,Kaduna,DrIbrahim We aregratefultoLateMrMarcusMaikajefortechnical Acknowledgments control ofthedisease. 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