<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica;">A survey conducted in five villages in a resource-poor farming community in Qwa-Qwa, using the rapid rural appraisal technique and a questionnaire survey, showed that a significant proportion of the farmers (84 %) use traditional or alternative methods to control ectoparasites, while 16 % use commercial acaricides (<span style="font-family: Symbol;" lang="AF"><span>c</span></span>² = 7.1; P <span style="text-decoration: underline;">&lt;</span> 0.05). Alternative control methods included the use of used engine oil, household disinfectant and paraffin. Killing of ticks was the main reason for control (40 %), with disease control being second (20 %). Other reasons given for controlling ticks were to prevent damage to teats, to provide animals with a clean appearance and to protect hides. Some 40 % of farmers were aware of the effects of ticks on their animals. There is a need for farmer education that will provide information on integrated tick management and its advantages over absolute reliance on commercial acaricides.</span>

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The paper provides a summary of three studies conducted in the eastern Free State of South Africa between 1998 and 2000. In a questionnaire-based study approximately 21% of interviewed resource-poor farmers (n = 150) indicated that they experienced problems with ticks and tick-borne diseases. About 56% of farmers indicated that tick-related problems were most severe in summer, while 32% indicated that the most problems were encountered in winter. About 12% indicated that the tick problems were experienced throughout the year. Farmers also indicated that the highest tick burdens were experienced between spring and early winter. The principal ticks infesting cattle (n = 30) were found to be Boophilus decoloratus (53.1%). Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi (44.7%), Rhipicephalus follis (1.0%), Rhipicephalus gertrudae (0.7%) and Rhipicephalus warburtoni (0.4%). On small stock (n = 188), R. evertsi evertsi (68%) and B. decoloratus (32%) were recorded as the main ticks in the study area. A sero-epidemiological survey of cattle (n = 386) showed that 94% of cattle were seropositive for Babesia bigentina by IFAT, while 87% were sero-positive for Anaplasma by indirect ELISA. All the animals were sero-negative for Babesia bovis and this is probably because the tick vector, Boophilus microplus, is not present in the study area. All sheep and goats were sero-positive for Theileria species by IFAT while 85% of sheep and 100% of goats tested positive for Anaplasma species by competition inhibition ELISA. The high incidence of positive serological results for B. bigemina and Anaplasma in cattle, and Theileria and Anaplasma in sheep and goats and the absence of clinical cases would indicate that this area is endemically stable for these diseases.

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world unprepared, with containment measures impacting both global supply chains and agri-commodity flows. The public health crisis raised some urgent questions: “how can fish and other aquatic foods and supply chains be prioritized as health-related interventions to avert both a malnutrition crisis and gender inequality?” Furthermore, “what are the integrated responses, investment opportunities, and governance mechanisms to effectively address the pandemic?” As “super foods,” diets of fish and aquatic foods provide animal-source protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and micronutrients, including both vitamins and minerals, necessary for both the ill and the healthy. The affordability and accessibility of fish could address food and nutrition security needs under lockdown and border closures, boost immune systems, and increase commodity trade. This analytical piece focuses on the continent of Africa, where malnutrition is pervasive, but also where local aquatic food supplies can be utilised during lockdowns and border closures. The paper provides governance insights on national budget support programs and portfolio restructuring to strengthen local aquatic foods production systems to meet dietary needs. Furthermore, the authors advocate for a coordinated multi-sectoral intervention across several well-being domains in the immediate and medium-term involving various partnerships. These integrated responses will mutually limit the contagion while providing support to functional fish value chains for healthy diets, livelihoods, cross-border trade, and long-term macroeconomic recovery.

Laboratory animals exposed to feeding ticks develop resistance which is reflected by a decline in tick engorgement weight, egg-laying by adults and reduced egg viability. Serum antibodies from these hosts and their reaction with tick antigens have been detected by different methods, including precipitation techniques, immunofluorescent techniques, ELISA and Western blots. However, little is known about the effects of antibodies on ticks that engorge on resistant hosts, or which tissues of the tick body are possibly immunogenic. Some researchers, using immunohistochemistry, have detected host antibodies in the gut, salivary glands and haemolymph of ticks engorged on resistant animals. The same technique has helped considerably in determining antigenic sites or antibody targets in other arthropods. Consequently, immunohistochemistry techniques were used in this study to detect cross-reactivity between sera raised against Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius, 1787) with Amblyomma hebraeum (Koch, 1844), and vice versa. The results show the existence of shared antigens between the 2 tick species. In general, our results point more to a 1-way cross-reactivity of A. hebraeum with A. cajennense than a reciprocal crossreactivity, suggesting that A. hebraeum is more immunogenic than A. <em>cajennense</em>