Determinación de la seroprevalencia de tripanosomosis bovina causada por trypanosoma spp. En tres provincias del oriente ecuatoriano (Napo, Orellana, Sucumbíos)

Abstract

Trypanosomosis is a hemoparasitic disease produced by protozoa belonging to the Trypanosoma genus, such as Trypanosoma vivax and Trypanosoma evansi, which can infect various species of both wild and domestic animals in different tropical and subtropical regions of the planet. This disease has a negative economic and health impact on the development of livestock production units. Although Ecuador is located in a region where trypanosomosis is endemic and widely distributed, it has limited epidemiological information on the situation of this pathology in its national territory. Therefore, this work aimed to determine the seroprevalence of trypanosomosis caused by Trypanosoma spp. in cattle herds belonging to the provinces of Napo, Orellana, and Sucumbíos, through the ELISAi. The ELISAi standardization was carried out using negative and positive reference sera. Subsequently, 107 bovine serum samples from the aforementioned provinces and located in the eastern region of Ecuador were evaluated. The conditions that showed the greatest quantitative difference between negative and positive sera in the immunoassay were: 1/400 dilution of serum, 1/10000 dilution of the anti-bovine IgG conjugate, and 15 minutes incubation / shaking to read the development. The general seroprevalence of bovine trypanosomosis in eastern Ecuador was 16.82% (18/107), while at the provincial level it was 6.82% (3/44) in Napo, 22.22% (4/18) in Orellana and 24.44% (11/45) in Sucumbíos. These results suggest the presence of trypanosomes of veterinary interest in the bovine herds and indicate a potential risk for all the animals present in the small production units located in the eastern part of the country. Hence, it is necessary to implement serological studies that increase the level of precision of the seroprevalence data shown here and that specifically characterize the species of infectious agents in the different potential hosts and vectors, together with determining the level of impact of the disease in the region.