Prevalence of Trypanosomiasis among Zebu Cattle in Mulanda, Tororo District, Eastern Uganda

Trypanosomiasis remains a major constraint to the development of livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa and a big part of Africa is rendered unsuitable for the production of livestock due to the presence of tsetse flies. A cross sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of trypanosomosis in Mulanda Sub County, Tororo district in Eastern Uganda during the month of April 2014. Whole blood samples were collected from 300 animals and examined for trypanosomes using micro-haemotocrit centrifugation and microscopic examination. The results showed an overall point prevalence of trypanosome infection at 5% with the highest prevalence observed in animals aged 7-9 years (10.7%). The prevalence of T.vivax was higher than that of T. congolense and other species. In conclusion, point prevalence of trypanosomiasis in the study area was generally low and there existed no significant association between disease prevalence and age but PCVs. Hence it can be recommended that the farmers should continue using long acting drugs for treatment of their cattle. In addition, the integrated trypanosomiasis control approaches should be extended to the traditionally tsetse free zones.