Clinical and hemato-biochemical profiles of dogs diagnosed of natural trypanosomosis at university of Nigeria Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Nsukka

Abstract

Hematological and serum biochemical profiles of animals are reflections of physiological disposition to their health status and production potentials.  Findings in experimental studies on trypanosomosis may not translate directly to the expected findings in natural infections because of the effect of  some variables like species and infecting dose of the parasite, nutritional status of the animal, concurrent infections, and stage of the trypanosomosis at  the time of presentation to the clinic. Trypanosoma brucei and T. congolense infections in dogs have grave prognosis especially if the cases are not  detected at their early stages. Clinical presentation, survivability of dogs treated with Diminazene aceturate as well as haematological and serum biochemical aberrations caused by natural infections with different Trypanosoma species were investigated with the view to identifying a variable or  factor that could be used for prognostic evaluation in the treated dogs. Telephone numbers of the clients for dogs diagnosed with and treated against  natural trypanosomes infections were collected and used to monitor the therapeutic outcomes. The clinical signs observed suggestive of late stage  trypanosomosis were matched with the revelations from the case history. Significant (p ≤ 0.05) reductions in PCV, HB, absolute neutrophil, and significant  (p ≤ 0.05) increase in monocytes count, serum urea, and creatinine were recorded in trypanosome infected dogs. Inability of clients to note the early  clinical signs of infections with trypanosomes could have contributed to the low survival rate of the trypanosome-infected dogs even when treated.