Abstract:
Blood samples from external jugular vein of camels presented for slaughter at randomly selected slaughter houses in
northwestern Nigeria were
collected. This is to determine some haematological baseline data and to investigate the
influence of pulmonary lesions on the blood parameters studied.
Accordingly blood samples from
500 camels presented
were collected and examined. Three hundred and twen
ty (320) camels sampled and examined showed one or more gross
and microscopic pu
lmonary lesion(s) which include:
acute pneumonia 232(46.4%), hydatid cyst 14(9.2%), pulmonary
haemorrhage 3(0.6%), pulmonary abscess 13(2.6%)
focal
emphysema (12(2.4%)
and pulm
onary atelectasis
46(9.2%)
.
while 180 camels sampled showed no detectable pulmonary lesion. There were relative increases in the PCV (p=0.422),
RBC (p=0.411) and haemoglobin concentration (p=0.321) in camels with pulmonary lesions when compared to the valu
es
from camels with normal lungs. However, the difference
s
were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The total WBC was
significantly increased (p=0.011) in the camels that had lung lesions. Nevertheless, the differential white blood cell counts
shows no
statistical difference between the groups, except on the eosinophils count which were significantly higher
(p=0.015) in camels with lung lesions. The calculated erythrocytes indices showed significantly higher MCH (p=0.02) and
MCHC (p=0.048) in the camels
with lung lesions (p<0.05), although the MCV was not significantly different between the
groups. The total plasma protein was not significantly different between the group
s
(p=0.194). It was concluded that
pneumonia or other lung lesions may have influenc
e of the blood parameters observed in this environment.
