Clinicopathological Changes Associated with Bovine Babesiosis and Trypanosomiasis in Cattle

Clinicopathological changes associated with blood protozoa in cows have been well-examined. However, these changes can be influenced over time due to the development of the animal immune system status and environmental changes. The current study aimed to assess clinical and pathological changes associated with blood protozoa infection in naturally infected cattle. A total of 80 cows were examined for evidence of babesiosis and trypanosomiasis using Giemsa-stained blood smears. Hematological parameter, clotting factor, and urinalysis were also estimated. Babesiosis and trypanosomasis were identified in 16% and 33% of the examined stained blood smears, respectively. The study revealed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in values of hemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, total erythrocytes count, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and total platelet count in both infected groups with babesiosis and Trypanosomiasis . In contrast, a significant increase was recorded in total leukocytes count, clotting time, prothrombin time, fibrinogen time, and activated partial thromboplastin time, as well as platelet volume and platelet distribution width in the infected cattle compared with non-infected cattle. Urinalysis showed appearance of urobilinogen, bilirubin, protein and glucose in the urine of some infected animals, while nitrate and ketones were not detected in all study animals. We concluded that hemoprtozoa revealed an obvious effect clotting system which might reflected disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) abnormalities and changes in urine components Therefore, clinicopathological changes associated with babesiosis and trypanosomiasis should be evaluated periodically to evaluated animal health status.