Relationship between anaemia and parasitaemia in sheep naturally infected with Trypanosoma vivax in southwest Nigeria

Trypanosoma vivax was diagnosed from 20 of 45 (44.4%) West African Dwarf sheep suspected of clinical trypanosomiasis on ILCA’s farm at Fasola in southwest Nigeria. The infection represented 11.8% of the total sheep on the station. Varying levels of parasitaemia and anaemia were observed among the trypanosome positive animals. There was a very significant correlation (r=0.76) between PCV, the measure of the degree of anaemia, and the degree of parasitaemia. Also, there was a significant difference (P<0.01) in the mean PCV and haemoglobin concentration in sheep that were positive and negative for trypanosomes. The haematological values appeared to be affected, in both trypanosome positive and trypanosome negative groups, by another anaemia- causing parasite, Babesia motasi.