Browsing by Author "Katunguka-Rwakishaya, E."

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    Bovine Trypanosomiasis in South–Western Uganda: Packed-cell Volumes and Prevalences of Infection in the Cattle
    (Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology, 2004-10-05) Waiswa, C.; Katunguka-Rwakishaya, E.
    Following confirmed cases of trypanosomiasis ('nagana') and reports of trypanosome-attributable deaths among local cattle, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of bovine infection with trypanosomes in south-western Uganda. Cattle from 10 different localities were checked by the microscopical examination of wet bloodsmears and thin, stained bloodsmears, and by blood centrifugation followed by the examination of the resultant buffy coats. Of the 1309 cattle investigated, 6.42% (5.56% and 7.26% of those from the Mbarara and Mubende districts, respectively) were found to be infected. Of the positive animals, 71 (84.5%), 11 (13.1%) and two (2.4%) appeared to be infected with Trypanosoma vivax only, T. congolense only and both T. vivax and T. congolense, respectively. The prevalence of infection with T. vivax was significantly higher than that with T. congolense (P <0.001). The mean packed-cell volumes (PCV) for the trypanosome-positive animals were lower than those for the trypanosome-negative, whether the cattle considered were all those investigated (22.3% v. 29.0%; P <0.001) or just those from the Mbarara (22.8% v. 28.2%) or Mubende (21.5% v. 29.7%) districts. South-western Uganda has been relatively free of both human and bovine trypanosomiasis for the past three decades. The factors leading to the current resurgence of bovine trypanosomiasis need further investigation.
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    Domestic Animals as Reservoirs for Sleeping Sickness in three Endemic Foci in South–Eastern Uganda
    (Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology, 2003-07-18) Waiswa, C.; Olaho-Mukani, W.; Katunguka-Rwakishaya, E.
    The persistence of sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis) in some areas of south-eastern Uganda has necessitated further investigations, focusing mainly on domestic animals as reservoirs of this disease in three agro-ecological zones. The inter-zone differences in the prevalences of trypanosome infection among cattle (P < 0.001) and pigs (P < 0.001) were significant. Overall, 5.0% of the cattle, 13.9% of the pigs and 0.4% of the small ruminants investigated were found to be infected with parasites of the Trypanosoma brucei subgroup. The results of blood incubation infectivity tests (BIIT) indicated that all of the T. brucei-subgroup isolates from cattle in Kamuli district (zone I) were human-serum-sensitive. Of the zone-I pigs found infected, however, almost all (82.5%) were considered to be infected with T. brucei and many (30.2%) carried human-serum-resistant T. brucei. Pig-tsetse-human appears to be a major transmission cycle in zone I. In Mukono district (zone II), 10.5% and 26.1% of the T. brucei isolates from cattle and pigs, respectively, were human-serum-resistant, indicating that cattle-tsetse-human and pig-tsetse-human are major transmission cycles in zone II. In Tororo district (zone III), 47.3% of the T. brucei isolates from cattle were human-serum-resistant but there were no T. brucei isolates from pigs, indicating that cattle-tsetse-human is the major transmission cycle. Interestingly, as the only T. brucei isolate from sheep in zone III was human-serum-resistant, there may also be a sheep-tsetse-human cycle. In south-eastern Uganda, control efforts must be designed to eliminate the parasites not only from cattle but also from pigs and small ruminants.
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    Tsetse survey in Mukono District, south-east Uganda: population structure, distribution and blood meal status
    (Tropical Animal Health and Production, 1996-02-27) Katunguka-Rwakishaya, E.; Kabagambe, E. K.
    The population structure, feeding state and distribution of tsetse ofGlossina fuscipes fuscipes species in Ssugu parish of Mukono district, south-east Uganda were investigated. Tsetse caught with pyramidal traps were counted, sexed and dissected for age grading. It was observed that most tsetse were caught in valley habitats in the dry season, but the distribution was almost uniform within the parish in the wet season. The apparent density and prevalence of blood meals in tsetse fluctuated in different months. There were more males with a fresh blood meal than females (P<0·05). In the population there was a preponderance of young tsetse of less than 60 days. There were significantly more teneral males than teneral females (P<0·05). In all months the percentage of females was higher than that of males and ranged between 51·1% to 64·6 per cent. The epidemiological implications of these findings are that the risk of contracting trypanosomosis is high during the period of uniform distribution; since this is associated with an increase in apparent density and therefore high man-tsetse-animal contact. Furthermore, these results have shown that it is possible to prevent increase in the population of tsetse by applying insecticides on animals and targets in September and early October, since recruitment in tsetse population follows the rains.