Prevalence of Trypanosoma evansi in Dromedary Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Saudi Arabia

(Maitham Abdullah Yusuf Al-Salameen, El Awad Mohammed El Hassan, Mohamed Abd Elmonem Salem, Omar Abdullateef Al-Jabr, and Fadil Mohammed Housawi)

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Abstract

The present study investigates the prevalence of Trypanosoma evansi in dromedary camels in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, using both parasitological and serological methods. Six hundred camels were examined in this study at three different locations in the Al Ahsa area, namely the University Veterinary Clinic, Hufof Veterinary Clinic, and Hufof Slaughterhouse. These camels were grouped according to their age into three groups: from one to two years, from two to nine years, and over nine years old. The association of animal age and sex with Trypanosoma evansi infection was also investigated. Clinical examination of the surveyed camels showed loss of appetite in 2.3% of these animals, 13.3% of the camels suffering from diarrhoea, and 5.2% showing loss of weight, while the rest of the surveyed camels (79.2%) were apparently healthy. Parasitological examination, including the wet mount technique (WMT), stained blood smears (SBS), and the haematocrit centrifugation technique (HCT), of blood samples obtained from the 600 surveyed camels failed to reveal any trypanosomes in these animals. The card agglutination test for trypanosomes (CATT), however, was able to detect the presence of anti-T. evansi antibodies in the serum of 12.17% of the surveyed animals. Most of the seropositive camels were in the age group from two to nine years, followed by those aged over nine years, while the least seropositive cases were those aged one to two years. The majority of the seropositive camels showed moderate agglutination level. The sex of camels showed high seropositivity to T. evansi in females compared to male camels. 

KEYWORDS
Agglutination, haematocrit, parasitological, seropositive

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