Field Investigation on the Prevalence of
Trypanosomiasis in Camels in Relation to Sex, Age, Breed and Herd
Size
B. Bhutto, J. A. Gadahi, G. Shah1,P. Dewani2 and A.G. Arijo
Department of Veterinary Parasitology; 1Department
of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, SindhAgriculture
University, Tandojam; 2Central Veterinary
Diagnostic Laboratory, Tandojam,
Pakistan
*Corresponding author:
drgadahi@yahoo.com
Abstract
Blood
samples were collected from 240 camels (183 male and 57 female) of four breeds
from six districts of Sindh. An overall infection was determined as 11.25%.
Species of Trypanosoma was identified as
Trypanosoma evansi. District wise infection was found to be 2.5, 7.5, 12.5,
15.00, 22.5 and 7.5% in
Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Umerkot, Badin, Thatta and Larkana,
respectively. A higher infection was found in females (15.79%) as compared to
males (9.84%). Highest (14.96%) infection was noted in age group >7 years,
followed by 8.57 and 4.65% in 3 to 7 years and less than to 3 years old camels,
respectively. Four breeds of camels were surveyed and the highest infection rate
was found in Sakrai breed (21.82%), followed by 16.67, 6.15 and 5.95% in Kharai,
Sindhi and Dhati breeds respectively. When herd size was considered, infection
rate was 1.67, 6.67, 15.00 and 21.67% in herds possessing 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to
20 and more than 20 animals, respectively.