Immune Colostrum Induces Trypanotolerance in Goats Kids Challenged With Trypanosoma Congolense

Abstract

The course of infection and the humoral immune response to Trypanosoma congolense clone ILNat 3.1 were studied in test goat kids receiving colostrum from dams immunized with the surface coat of ILNat 3.1 and control kids that received colostrum from nonimmunized dams. At 24-48 hrs after birth all test kids had detectable serum antibodies to the trypanosome clone . There was no difference in the prepatent period between the test and control kids when they were challenged with 10 3 I. congolense ILNat 3.1 trypanosomes 8 days after birth. Except for the first 7 days a significantly lower parasitemia was recorded in test kids than in control kids . The mean packed ce ll vo l ume of test kids was not significantly different from that of control kids. The test kids gained as much weight as noninfected kids; both groups gained twice as much weight as infected control kids. Following infection all kids developed antibody to the infecting trypanosome clone. Fifteen test kids had titers equal to or greater than 1280 compared to only two control kids.