Survey For Haematophagous Flies and Trypanosomes in Three Districts of Gwagwalada Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

Abstract

Hematophagous flies pose a high public health burden and are a nuisance to livestock and humans. Aprevalence study was conducted for species composition and distribution of hematophagous flies, as well as the occurrence of Trypanosoma species of livestock during the dry and wet seasons at Paikon-Kore, Dobi and Ibwa districts of Gwagwalada Area Council, Federal Capital Territory in 2016. Nzi and Biconical traps were used. Ten traps were placed for 48hrs in each of the three districts, and trapped flies were harvested after 48hrs in both seasons. Blood samples were collected from 243 livestock: cattle (174), sheep (38) and goats (31) respectively and analysed for the presence of haemoparasites using thick, thin blood smear and haematocrit centrifugation methods. A total of 560 flies were caught during the study. Paikon-Kore had a higher occurrence of flies 227(40.5%) than Dobi 140(25%) and Ibwa 193(34.5%) respectively. Stomoxys calcitrans was the highest occurrence in both wet season 341(78.8%) and dry season 81 (63.8%), respectively, followed by Musca domestica 79 (18.2%) for the wet season and 38(29.9%) for the dry season, while Glossina fly was 0(0.0%). The wet season had a higher number of trapped flies, 433, as compared to the dry season with 127. There was a significant association (p<0.05) between flies caught between districts and seasons. The livestock sampled showed a 2.5% prevalence of trypanosome infection. There was no  ignificant association between the occurrence of Trypanosoma infection in the three districts. It is important to control or eradicate these hematophagous flies, which can serve as vectors in the transmission of pathogens which can cause significant health crises in livestock and humans.