Trypanosoma brucei, T. congolense and T. vivax infections in horses on a farm in Kenya

Abstract

Equines are particularly susceptible to infection withTrypanosoma evansi andT. brucei, but rarely is naturalT. congolense andT. vivax infection seen in horses. An outbreak of trypanosomosis occurred in a herd of horses used for patrolling the pineapple fields on the Del Monte Farm, Thika, Kenya initially involving 6 horses. On subsequent screening of the entire group,T. brucei,T. congolense andT. vivax infections were detected in 16 of the 35 horses. The tests used for diagnosis included microscopic examination of stained blood smears, buffy coat technique, mouse inoculation and antigen detection enzyme immunoassay (antigen ELISA).