Study on the infectivity of Trypanosoma evansi isolate in Savannah Brown bucks

The infectivity of an isolate of Trypanosoma evansi was investigated using five infected and four uninfected control Savannah brown bucks. The goats were each infected intravenously via the jugular vein with approximately 3.0 x 106 T. evansi parasites. Following the infection, clinical signs observed, parasitaemia, haematological parameters were measured for 59 days. Body weights were determined once in a week for the duration of the experiment. All infected bucks developed clinical trypanosomosis. The prepatent period varied between 7 and 11 days while the rectal temperatures were significantly higher (p 0.05), the mean values of haematological parameters dropped significantly (p 0.05) compared to the pre-infection levels. Clinical signs observed in this experiment included dullness, emaciation, recumbency and anaemia. It is suggested that the isolate was pathogenic and infective for Savannah brown bucks.