Prevalence of Bovine Trypanosomosis in Chilga District, Northwest Ethiopia: Using Aldehyde and Parasitological Tests

Prevalence of Bovine Trypanosomosis in Chilga District, Northwest Ethiopia: Using Aldehyde and Parasitological Tests

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chilga district, Northwest Ethiopia from October 2014 to April 2015 to determine the prevalence and to assess the associated factors of trypanosome infection in cattle. A total of 384 blood samples collected from randomly selected animals were processed using aldehyde test and parasitological examination. An overall prevalence of 6.25% and 5.47% of the trypanosome infection was recorded by aldehyde and parasitological examination, respectively. From infected animals, the prevalence of T. vivax was 90.48% and T. congolense 9.52%. The infection rate was not significantly (p>0.05) higher in females (5.9%) than males (5.1%) and in adults (5.8%) than young (4.6%) animals. It was significantly varied (p<0.05) among kebeles with 12.1%, 6.4% and 1.1% for Negadie-Bahir, Gint and Aykel, respectively. Similarly, the infection rate was also significantly (p<0.05) higher in poor body condition score animals (23.1%) than in animals with an average score (1.39%). But no infection recorded in good body condition scored animals. Aldehyde test and parasitological examination comparison showed comparable results at 92.7% test agreement.