Prevalence of haemoprotozoan
diseases in Cattle
Population of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh
Md. Abdul Alim*, Shubhagata Das, Krisna Roy§, Md.
Masuduzzaman, Suchandan Sikder1, Mohammad Mahmudul Hassan2,
Amam Zonaed Siddiki and Mohammad Alamgir Hossain
Department of Pathology and Parasitology, 1Department ofPhysiology, Biochemistry & Pharmacology, 2Department
of Medicine and Surgery; Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences
University, Khulshi, Chittagong -4225;Bangladesh; §Also affiliated with: Section for
Microbiology, Department of Veterinary Disease Biology,
faculty of
life
sciences, University
of Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
A one year (2009-10) prevalence study on haemoprotozoan diseases was conducted
in crossbred and indigenous cattle, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Blood samples were
collected randomly from 216 crossbred and 432 indigenous cattle of four
representative areas in three consecutive seasons. Samples were examined by
Giemsa's stained blood smear method. The effect of topography, season, age and
sex was observed in cattle during this study. The overall prevalence of
haemoprotozoan diseases was 16.18% and 12.02% in crossbred and indigenous
cattle, respectively where babesiosis and anaplasmosis were predominant.
Babesiosis was found to be consistent in all the four different areas but
highest prevalence (9.25%) was found in hilly area. Haemoprotozoan diseases were
predominant in summer season followed by rainy and winter seasons. Adult cattle
were significantly (P<0.05) susceptible to babesiosis than younger. Female
animals were more susceptible to haemoprotozoan infections than male where
babesiosis in crossbred cattle was statistically significant (P<0.05). It could
be stated that breed and season were the important predictor of haemoprotozoan
diseases. We recommended further studies for molecular detection of such
diseases and identification of tick vectors in the study areas which will assist
to take necessary preventive measures.