Detection of Haemoparasites of Blood Donors in 9 Locations in and Around Plateau State, Nigeria

Haemoparasites in the tropics are also endemic in Nigeria. Asymptomatic infections may abound, due to resistance to these infections. This asymptomatic infection has been one of the factors, which has maintained transmission of these pathogens, through many ways, including blood donation and transfusion. In this report, haemoparasitic infections in blood donors have been described, from blood donors within Plateau State, Nigeria. Five hundred and twelve blood donors were selected by means of a random sampling method and their blood samples collected. Serological assay was done using rapid test kits to check for presence of antibodies (in the case of microfilariae) or antigens (in the case of malaria) to the different haemoparasites. Also, Elisa technique was used for the microfilariae. Thick and thin films were made from each blood sample on grease-free slides allowed to dry and stained by 3% Giemsa solution for 45 min which is the Giemsa technique. Results indicate that 270 (52.7%) of the sample population had no infection; 121( 23.6%) of the population were infected with Plasmodium falciparum; 11 (2.1%) were infected with Plasmodium malariae; 69 (13.5%) were infected with HBsAg; 29 (5.7%) were infected with HCV; 7 ( I.4% ) were infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense; 1% were infected with microfilariae, 4( 0.8% ) of the 1% were unsheathed and identified to be Mansonella perstans, while 1(0.2%) were sheathed and identified to be Loa loa. Most blood group types were susceptible to haemoparasitic infections. The result of the study therefore stresses the need to screen blood for haemoparasites before transfusion, owing to the dangers of doing otherwise. The occupations and dwelling places of the donors are predisposing factors to these haemoparasitic infections. Since they have the passion to save lives through blood donation, they should therefore make the necessary adjustments that will make them more suitable lifesavers. It is recommended that the basic transmission factors of these parasites are explained to donors to reduce further incidences. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-22-01 Publication date: November 30th 201

Fertility and hatchability potentials of ShikaBrown® chickens and effect of body weight and age of chicken on egg quality traits in southwestern, Nigeria

The study was conducted to assess the reproductive performance and the effect of body weight and age on external egg quality  traits of ShikaBrown® (SS-98, SG-98 and SB-98) chickens. Six hundred ShikaBrown® chickens fertile eggs were sourced, incubated and 21 weeks old ShikaBrown® layers were used for studying some external egg quality traits. Data collected were  subjected to Analysis of Variance (SAS 9); Univariate was applied to test the effects of age and body weight on  external egg  quality traits of the birds; where significant differences occurred, the means were separated by Duncan Multiple Range test. The dam (SS-98) parent stock had higher fertility (95.9%) while ShikaBrown® (SB-98) commercial layers had highest hatchability (89.9%). There was significant effect of age and body weight on all the external egg quality traits (p<0.05) considered in this  study except egg shape index, which was not significantly affected (p>0.05) by body weight. The external egg quality traits  progressed with corresponding increase in the age and body weight of the ShikaBrown® (SB-98) layers. On the basis of the  recorded high values for both reproduction and egg quality traits, the ShikaBrown® parent lines and commercial layers should be made readily available to the commercial poultry farms.Keywords: Egg, Hatchability, Fertility, External quality traits, ShikaBrown® chicken genotypes (SS-98, SG-98, SB-98)