Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences

Research Article
Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 9(7): 1004-1011
Http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.aavs/2021/9.7.1004.1011
View Full HTML
Download PDF

Arafat Sadek1, Khaled A.S. El-Khabaz2*, Sherief M. El-Genedy3, Magdy M. El-Gioushy4

1Department of Animal Medicine (Internal Medicine), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut university, Assiut - Egypt; 2Department of Animal Medicine (Infectious Diseases), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut - Egypt; 3Field Practitioner, Assiut - Egypt; 4Department of Animal Medicine (Internal Medicine), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aswan University, Aswan-Egypt 37916, Egypt.

Abstract | Camel trypanosomiasis (surra) is a vector-borne parasitic disease caused by Trypanosoma (T.) evansi, affecting the health of camels, and resulting in a number of negative economic implications. The clinical signs of the disease are not characteristic, and as such, the laboratory diagnosis of camel trypanosomiasis is crucial. This study aimed to demonstrate the diagnostic performance of Giemsa-stained blood smears (GSBS), antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Ag-ELISA) to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of T. evansi infection in camels. Blood samples were collected from 56 clinically suspected and 36 apparently healthy camels. The overall prevalence of T.evansi was 9.8 % with GSBS with sensitivity 16.7% and specificity 100%, 16.3 % with Ag-ELISA with sensitivity 27.8% and specificity100%, and 58.7 %with PCR. The prevalence of T. evansi in the clinically suspected camels was 16.1% with GSBS, 26.8% with Ag-ELISA, and 60.7% with PCR, while in the apparently healthy camels, was 55.6% with PCR and no positive cases were detected with both GSBS and Ag-ELISA. A significant increase in the prevalence identified with GSBS, Ag-ELISA, and PCR was found in clinically suspected camels relative to the apparently healthy ones. A substantial agreement (k=0.715) between GSBS and antigen-ELISA was detected, while the agreement between GSBS and PCR was slight (k =0.142) and fair (k =0.241) between Ag-ELISA and PCR. This study advocates the use of molecular analysis to assess the prevalence of surra in camels, rather than antigen-ELISA. However, GSBS can be used in developing countries as a preliminary screening method.

Keywords | Camel, Trypanosomiasis, Blood smear, PCR, ELISA