Seroprevalence of Trypanosoma evansi Infection in equine population of India

Equine trypanosomosis caused by Trypanosoma evansi, is prevalent across all agro-climatic regions of India, and has a significant direct and indirect impact on equine productivity particularly on the performance of working equids. The impact of the disease is often overlooked due to unavailability of epidemiological status of disease and impact on livestock productivity. In the present study, an antibody-ELISA was used for seroprevalence study of T. evansi in Indian equine population. A total of 19467 serum samples were screened from twenty-one states of India collected during 20092020. Out of these, 1215 serum samples were found positive for the presence of antibodies against T. evansi from equids of sixteen states with varying prevalence. The seroprevalence for T. evansi infection ranged from 2.30%-15.02% in different states with an overall seroprevalence of 5.67% (5.35%-6.00% at a 95% confidence interval). The results indicated that Surra is prevalent in equids in majority of states of India. The disease was found prevalent in most of the states of India throughout the year with sporadic outbreaks in equines.