Packed Cell Volume Values of Sudanese Camels Grazing Under Open System: With Emphasis to its Importance for �Guffar� Management and Control

Abstract

Anaemia is regarded as the main pathological feature of trypanosomosis in man and animals. Trypanosomosis is ranked as a major threat for camel industry. In clinical diagnosis, values such as packed red cell volume (PCV), Hb concentration, RBCs counts and RBCs indices are used to measure the degree of anaemia and its morphology. However, in most instances, PCV alone is used to determine the degree of anaemia. There is a meager data on reference clinical parameters and haematological values of Sudanese animals including camels. This paper reports the PCV values of camels from three different States located in the camels zone as depicted from field surveys designed for camel trypanosomosis �Guffar� management and control in the Sudan. Moreover, the study discussed the effect of the disease on camels PCV. The PCV values of 362 examined camels from 19 areas in 10 localities from Kassala, Gadarif and West-Kordofan States were recorded. Thereafter, the range and the mean PCVs of the non-infected and the infected camels were determined. The mean PCV values of parasitologically infected camels were found to be significantly (p=0.000) lower than that of non-infected. Although there was no significant differences (p=0.079) between the three States in the prevalence of the disease, geographical variations have significant effect (p=0.004) on camels PCV values in this study. Based on the results of the present study as well as the difficulty of Parasitological detection and confirmation of the infection, it was concluded that PCV, can be used as clinical indicator for �Guffar� of herds at risk. This is may be helpful for strategic and effective use of trypanocides in the disease management and control. Programmed field application of this technique may also reduce the distribution of drug resistant strains of these parasites in the Country