Anaplasmosis in Uganda. III. Parasitological and serological evidence of Anaplasma infection in Ugandan goats.

Randomly selected goat sera from north-western, central, and south-western regions of Uganda were analyzed parasitologically and serologically for evidence of anaplasmosis. Prevalence rates of 3.2% by parasitemia, 4.8% by card-agglutination test, and 12.9% by DOT-ELISA combined with western blotting were established. Parasitologically positive samples were consistently serologically positive. Positive samples were all from either the north-western or south-western regions of the country. Goats in these regions graze with cattle and are presumable exposed to the same tick species. There was no evidence of clinical caprine anaplasmosis, whereas bovine anaplasmosis cases are very common. Rhipicephalus evertsi was frequently observed on goats which cograze with cattle.