Authors

CF Obi¹; MI Okpala¹; NT Emejuo¹; IO Ezeh¹; DN Onah¹; RC Ezeokonkwo¹;  ¹ University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

Discussion

Animal trypanosomosis is an important endemic disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Its control relies on chemotherapy, and resistance to trypanocides has been widely reported.  A paucity of information exists on the pathogenicity of drug-resistant canine trypanosomes. Thus, this study compared the serum biochemical changes in Nigerian local dogs infected with either drug-resistant or drug-sensitive Trypanosoma brucei or Trypanosoma congolense. Twenty Nigerian local dogs were used for this study and were randomly assigned into five groups (I - V) of four dogs each. Group I served as the uninfected control group, while groups II and III were infected intraperitoneally with 106 drug-sensitive T. congolense and T. brucei respectively. Groups IV and V were inoculated intraperitoneally with 106 multidrug-resistant T. congolense and T. brucei, respectively. The serum total protein (TP), serum albumin (ALB), serum globulin (SG), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol (TCHOL), triglycerides, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), malonaldehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), mean fasting blood glucose levels (FBG), and serum testosterone levels (TEST) were assessed. The mean pre-patent period of groups II-V were 4.25, 3.5, 5.2, and 10.3 days respectively. Significant variations were observed in the serum biochemical parameters of the infected groups. Group V dogs had lower (P<0.05) mean AST, ALT, ALP, bilirubin, urea, creatinine, MDA, and higher (P<0.05) mean TP, SOD, FBG, and TEST than group III dogs. However, these parameters did not differ statistically (P>0.05) amongst groups II and IV dogs. It was concluded that drug-sensitive T. brucei was more virulent than the multidrug-resistant T. brucei while multidrug-resistant and drug-sensitive T. congolense had comparable virulence which were higher than that of multidrug-resistant T. brucei.