Experimental infection of small ruminants with trypanosomes: comparison of Djallonké and Sahelian breeds in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Twenty-four dwarf Djallonké sheep and goats, and 16 Sahelian Fulani sheep and goats, were inoculated with strains of Trypanosoma vivax and Tryapanasoma congolense to compare their degree of susceptibility to trypanosomosis. One animal from each breed was used as a control. Anaemia was observed in all inoculated animals. In the group of animals inoculated with T. vivax, 1 Djallonké goat out of 6, 3 Sahelian goats out of 4 and 2 Fulani sheep out of 4 died within the experimental period of 16 weeks. One single Sahelian Fulani sheep out of 4 died among animals inoculated with T. congolense. During a period of 8 weeks, no significant difference was observed between Djallonké and Fulani Sahelian in the decrease of body weight and leucocyte count. Results in this study show a better resistance of Djallonké sheep and goats to infection by T. vivax, whereas there was no significant difference between all sheep and goats inoculated with T.congolense.