Salivarian trypanosome infections in cattle in Ikoma, South Mara District, Tanzania

Abstract

798 cattle from the Ikoma area, Musoma district, were examined for evidence of trypanosomiasis and the predominant trypanosome species involved. From the results, the extent of cattle trypanosomiasis in Ikoma and the predominance of congolense-type infections as compared with vivax-type infections was established.The need to use more than one method in the diagnosis of animal trypanosomiasis is emphasized from the results presented in Table 3. The direct relationship between the poor health of the cattle and T. congolense infections demonstrates the economic importance of this trypanosome species as compared with T. vivax. This relationship also supports results of earlier work showing that in East Africa congolense type infections produce more serious clinical trypanosomiasis in cattle than do vivax-type infections. This is important when drawing up a treatment programme.