Trypanosome infections in cattle in the South-Sudanese area of Burkina Faso

Abstract

In five provinces of the South-Sudanese area of Burkina Faso 1796 cattle were sampled between 1994 and 1995 for the presence of trypanosome infections using the buffy coat technique and Giemsa stained blood smears. The apparent prevalence of trypanosome infections and some variation factors were assessed. The investigations took place during the rainy season (July-August) in four provinces, where prevalence rates varied between 7.6 and 12.2% (4.9-11.3% and 8.9-16.3% confidence intervals, respectively). In the only province investigated during the dry season (March) the prevalence was 4.9% (2.7-8.4% CI). Of the studied variation factors (province, livestock monitored area, animal phenotype and age group), only the livestock area and age group showed a significant effect on the infection prevalence in the animals. Particularly, a decrease of T. vivax prevalence was associated with age, while the opposite was observed with T. congolense. T. vivax was the most common species (64% of total infections), followed by T. congolense (46.6%) and T. brucei (2.5%). There were 13% mixed infections and T. vivax infections were positively associated with T. congolense’s.