Blood Parasites of Toads (Amietophrynus regularis) in Al-Sorojia and Jebel Aulia, Khartoum State, Sudan

Abstract

The present study was conducted to detect and identify blood parasites infecting toads Amietophrynus (Bufo) regulariss and find out the association between the infection of the parasites and host factors sex, length, body weight, and age. One hundred and twenty Amietophyrnus (Bufo) regularis (99 males and 21 females) were collected from May to August 2016 in two localities in Khartoum State (Al-Sorojia and Jebel Aulia). They were examined for blood parasites using blood films stained in Giemsa’s. A total of 77 (64.16%) of specimens were infected by 880 parasitic protozoa made-up of 879 (99.89%). Apicomplexa composed of Haemogregina spp. (89.66%), Hepatozoon spp. (10.22%), and 1 (0.11%) Kinteoplastides composed of Trypanosoma spp., while 43 (35.83%) were uninfected. No nematodes were recovered. The infection rate based on sex shows that females significantly (χ2 =12.520, p≤0.05) have a higher rate of infection than males. For the toad maturity, there was a significant difference in the infection rate between the mature group and the immature (χ2 =19.471, p=0.003). The infection rate increases with decreasing of weight and length with a negative correlation (rs = –0.022, p = 0.814 and rs = –0.004, p = 0.966, respectively). This study showed a high level of parasitic infection in African common toads in Khartoum State which contributed to the decline in amphibian populations. Further research on amphibian parasitism and its threats to human health is warranted.