Abstract
The non-tsetse-transmitted animal trypanosomoses are infections caused by three main mammalian trypanosome species, namely Trypanosoma evansi, T. equiprdum, and T. vivax. Their global distribution is much wider than tsetse-transmitted trypanosomoses and includes Africa and Latin America, Asia, and Euro-Asia. These trypanosomoses affect a very wide range of domestic animals and game and negatively impact on the development of the animal industry, thus directly affecting national economies and people's livelihoods.
TopIntroduction
Animal African trypanosomoses are diseases of animals of similar aetiology and epidemiology. The causative agents of the diseases are protozoan parasites of the genus Trypanosoma that live and multiply extracellularly in blood and tissue fluids of their mammalian hosts and are transmitted by the bite of infected tsetse flies (Glossina sp.); others by biting flies or by coitus.
Animal trypanosomoses comprise: nagana (caused by T. congolense, T. vivax and T. brucei spp and T. simiae), surra caused by (T. evansi) and dourine caused by (T. equiperdum). In wild animals, these parasites may cause relatively mild infections while in domestic animals they cause a severe, often fatal disease. All domestic animals can be affected in one way or another.
Background
The non-tsetse transmitted animal trypanosomoses are caused by three main trypanosome species, namely: Trypanosoma evansi, T. equiprdum and T. vivax. Their global distribution is wider than tsetse-transmitted trypanosomoses and includes Africa and Latin America, Asia and Euro-Asia. Trypanosoma evansi and T. vivax are transmitted mechanically by biting flies. However, T. vivax is also transmitted by tsetse flies, while T. equiprdum is transimitted by coitus. Infections by these trypanosomoses negatively impact the development of the animal industry, directly affecting national economies and people’s livelihoods (Radwanska, 2018).
Trypanosomosis Due To Trypanosoma Evansi (Surra)
Trypanosoma (Trypanozoon) evansi (Steel 1885) Balbiani, 1888, was the first pathogenic mammalian trypanosome to be described by Evans (1880-1881-1882) who associated it with an endemic disease known as “Surra” affecting equines and camels in Dera Ismail Khan, in the Punjab district of India (Hoare, 1972).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Antibodies: Proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, produced by the cells of the immune system in response to invasion by foreign substance., such as parasites and other microorganisms.
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): Is a technique used to make numerous copies of a specific segment of DNA quickly and accurately to enable investigators obtain large quantities of DNA that are required for various experiments and procedures in molecular biology, forensic analysis, evolutionary biology and biomedical diagnosistics.
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA): Is an immunological test widely used to measure antibodies, antigens, proteins, glycoproteins and drugs in biological samples.
Trypanosomosis: Is the name of several diseases in animals caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus Trypanosoma.
Epidemiology: is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and its application to the control of health problems.
Antigens: Substances (usually proteins or polysaccharides) that can stimulate an immune response.
Anaemia: A reduction in the number of circulating red blood cells or in the quantity of haemoglobin.