ABSTRACT
In order to determine the trend in the occurrence of diseases that are associated with alterations in haematological values, a retrospective study of cases presented to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria from 2001 to 2010 was carried out. Haematological records in clinical pathology laboratory were evaluated for percentage occurrence of abnormal values of packed cell volume (PCV) and total white blood cell count (WBC) in each year of the period covered. Animal species involved in this study were canine, equine, caprine, ovine, and bovine. The percentage of canine patients presented with abnormally low PCV steadily increased from 2001 (28.8%) to peak in 2006 (56.7%) before relatively stabilizing up to 2010. On the other hand, the percentage of canine patients presented with abnormally high PCV was highest in 2001 (8.1%) and lowest in 2010 (0%). In caprine, the percentage of cases with abnormally low (0%) PCV in 2001 and highest (40.7%), in 2008 while the percentage of those with abnormally high PCV increased steadily from 0% in 2004 to 22.2% in 2010. For the ovine patients, the percentage of patients with abnormally low PCV was highest (29.2%) in 2005, whereas the percentage of those with abnormally high PCV was significantly high (50%) in 2003 and very low in other the years during the 10-year period. In the bovine, the percentage of patients with abnormally low PCV was high in 2001(32%), 2005(42.9%) and 2007(40%) while the percentage of those with abnormally high PCV (16.7%) peak in 2008. The percentage of canine patients presented with abnormally high WBC steadily increased from 2001(7.8%) to peak in 2005 (29.9%) and then declined to 14.7% in 2007 before relatively stabilized up to 2010. On the other hand, the percentage of canine patients presented with abnormally low WBC fluctuated between 1.6% in 2001 and 25% in 2010. In Equine species, abnormal values of WBC fluctuated between 0% and 54.5% for values above normal, and 0% and 15.4% for values below normal. In caprine, the percentage of cases with abnormally high WBC steadily increased from 2001 (0%) to peak in 2006 (63.3%) and then relatively declined to (7.4%) in 2010, while the percentage of those with abnormally low WBC fluctuated between 0% and 44.7%. In Ovine species, abnormal values of WBC fluctuated between 8.0% (2007) and 54.2% (2005) for values above normal, and 0% and 10% for values below normal. In Bovine species, abnormal values of WBC fluctuated between 0% (2001) and 69.2% (2005) for values above normal, and 0% and 14.3% for values below normal. It is instructive to note that an increase or decrease in the percentage of animals with abnormal haematological parameters suggests increase or decrease in the occurrence of diseases that cause such alterations in any particular year studied. The study has demonstrated that diseases that cause changes in haematological values are still endemic; there is the need to identify them with the view to re-designing our control strategies.
Key words: Key: PCV, WBC, diseases, domestic animals, 2001-2010
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