Analysis of Amblyomma surveillance data in the Caribbean: Lessons for future control programmes

Ahoussou, Sylvie; Lancelot, Renaud; Sanford, Bryan; Porphyre, Thibaud; Bartlette-Powell, P.; Compton, E.; Henry, Lynn; Maitland, R.; Lloyd, Richard E.; Mattioli, Raffaele C.; Chavernac, David; Stachurski, Frédéric; Martinez, Dominique; Meyer, Damien; Vachiéry, Nathalie; Pegram, R. G.; Lefrançois, Thierry

doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2009.09.035

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The Caribbean Amblyomma Programme (CAP), launched in 1994, aimed to reduce this risk by eradicating A. variegatum from the eastern Caribbean. Nine islands participated in the programme and when it ended in 2008 four islands had been cleared of A. variegatum (39). Guadeloupe, Antigua and Marie-Galante were not included in the CAP strategy and still represent a reservoir for both A. variegatum and E. ruminantium (36).…”

Section: Epidemiology In the New Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heartwater – Ehrlichia ruminantium infection

Allsopp¹

2015

Rev. Sci. Tech. OIE

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SummaryHeartwater is a notifiable disease that is listed by the World Organisation for Animal Health. It is caused by Ehrlichia ruminantium, an obligately intracellular Gramnegative bacterium in the order Rickettsiales and the family Anaplasmataceae. The disease is borne by ticks in the genus Amblyomma and causes heartwater, or cowdriosis, in wild and domestic ruminants, primarily in Africa, but also in parts of the Caribbean. The disease was recognised in South Africa in the 19th Century and determined to be tick borne in 1900, while the organism was identified in 1925 and first cultured in vitro in 1985. This latter achievement boosted research into the disease at a time when biology was moving into the molecular genetic age. Over the last 20 years, there have been significant improvements in our understanding of E. ruminantium, yielding major advances in diagnosis, epidemiology, genetic characterisation, phylogeny, immunology, and vaccine development. The organism is genetically highly variable; this has important implications for future control measures, and is making it difficult to develop an effective vaccine for protection against tick challenge. Research is continuing into three different types of vaccine, inactivated, attenuated, and recombinant, and the current state of development of each is discussed. KeywordsAmblyomma hebraeum -Amblyomma variegatum -Attenuated vaccine -ControlCowdriosis -Diagnosis -Economic importance -Ehrlichia ruminantium -Heartwater -Inactivated vaccine -Occurrence -Recombinant vaccine -Tick-borne disease.Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz., 2015, 34 (2), 557-568 AetiologyHeartwater is listed by the World Organisation of Animal Health as a notifiable disease (1). It was known in South Africa for nearly 90 years before the causative organism was identified in 1925 as a rickettsia, originally named Rickettsia ruminantium (2, 3). The name was later changed to Cowdria ruminantium (4), from which arose the term 'cowdriosis'. Molecular phylogenetic studies of the Rickettsiales in the 1990s uncovered the real evolutionary relationships within the order and the organism was reclassified as Ehrlichia ruminantium in the family Anaplasmataceae (5). Ehrlichia ruminantium, which is transmitted by Amblyomma ticks, is obligately intracellular, infects cattle, sheep, goats and some wild ruminants, and is frequently fatal. A comprehensive account of the history and biology of E. ruminantium can be found elsewhere (6). Economic and social importanceHeartwater is a serious economic problem wherever it occurs, in an enormous area covering most of sub-Saharan Africa, its offshore islands, and several islands in the Caribbean. The disease generally prevents livestock farmers from upgrading their herds to modern high-yielding breeds, as these are more susceptible to infection than traditional stock breeds, which often have a measure of resistance (7). Since heartwater is so common in the endemic areas of Africa, farmers are usually unwilling or unable to pay for definitive diagnoses, so it is difficul...

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Section: Epidemiology In the New Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heartwater – Ehrlichia ruminantium infection

Allsopp¹

2015

Rev. Sci. Tech. OIE

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“…It is of note that in 2001, nine years before our study began, St. Kitts was declared to be provisionally free of A. variegatum following a period of mandatory 1% flumethrin topical treatment of all domestic ruminants as part of a national tick eradication project which was supported by the Caribbean Amblyomma Programme [10]. By 2006, however, the tick had reappeared, and the provisionally free status of the island was revoked when 76 A. variegatum were found during 4,201 farm inspection visits on St. Kitts [12]. During our study five years later, we found an average of 72 A. variegatum per farm visit with an average of 23 ticks on each untreated sentinel animal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The tagged animals are expected to assimilate with the free-roaming population and attract and kill A. variegatum in the area. Monitoring the population over a roughly two-year period would be required to assume that all adult A. variegatum had been removed [12]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Local control programs have often been ineffective [11] and apparent eradication of A. variegatum from some islands has been short-lived [4,10,12]. There are many reasons for the lack of success including owner non-compliance [4,11], reintroduction of ticks by animal movement or migratory cattle egrets ( Bubulcus ibis ) [13], refugia of ticks on feral livestock or wildlife hosts [14,15], and the difficulties of catching and treating animals kept under free-ranging conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Efficacy of slow-release tags impregnated with aggregation-attachment pheromone and deltamethrin for control of Amblyomma variegatum on St. Kitts, West Indies

Kelly

Lucas

Randolph

et al. 2014

Parasites & Vectors

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BackgroundAmblyomma variegatum is an important cause of morbidity, mortality and economic losses in Africa and the West Indies. Attempts to control and/or eradicate the tick from the Caribbean have largely been unsuccessful because of difficulties relating to the biology of the three-host tick and problems with applying acaricides on a regular basis to free-ranging domestic ruminants. While plastic collars impregnated with insecticides are widely and effectively used in companion animals to control external parasites there is little information on this technology in ruminants.MethodsOver 21 months we tested the efficacy of slow-release plastic tags impregnated with deltamethrin (7%) and aggregation-attachment pheromones (DPITs) in controlling A. variegatum on free-ranging cattle on two farms on St. Kitts. The tags were replaced every three months or when found to be lost.ResultsOn sentinel animals fitted with tags containing only aggregation-attachment pheromones there were an average of 23.1 ticks per semi-monthly visit although this number varied considerably, peaking in the dry season around May and being lowest in August to October during the wet season. Significantly fewer ticks (3.5 on average) were found on cattle with DPITs at each visit (P < 0.001). Although the DIPTs provided good control (92% on average), they did not significantly reduce A. variegatum in the environment with tick numbers on sentinels being higher in the second year of the study, despite up to 44% of animals being fitted with DPITs. The tags were economical, costing 0.2% of the 1% flumethrin pour-on treatment widely recommended for A. variegatum control in the Caribbean. The major problem encountered was that 38% of tail tags were lost before they were due for replacement every three months.ConclusionsOur study has shown that DPITs are cheap to produce, easy to place, only require handling of animals every three months, and are very effective in protecting cattle from A. variegatum. Before DPITs can be considered for eradication programs the problems needing to be addressed include loss of tail tags, particularly in thick vegetation, and the optimum number of animals that must be treated to reduce numbers of ticks in the environment.

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“…In many cases, the fumigation of the vegetation has shown to be effective for tick population reduction and the potential reduction for human/tick encounters in high-risk areas (Stafford, 1991;Schulze et al, 1992;1994;2005;Piesman and Eisen, 2008). This technique has been referred in public health programs (Korenberg and Kovalevskii, 1999) but deworming of animals is more common to control tick populations Walker, 2011;Ahoussou et al, 2010).…”

Section: Chemical Control and Deworming Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevention and Prophylaxis of Tick Bites and Tick-Borne Related Diseases

García‐Álvarez¹,

Palomar²,

Oteo³

2013

American Journal of Infectious Diseases

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Ticks are obligate haematophagous arthropods present all over the world able to produce human diseases. Several factors have increased the abundance, circulation and distribution of the pathogens transmitted by ticks, contributing to the change in the vector-borne diseases epidemiology in the last years. This review collects the most important measures for the prevention and prophylaxis of tick-borne diseases. The preexposition measures to avoid tick-borne diseases are based on the prevention of tick bites by avoiding tickinfested areas, using of protective clothing, repellents and controlling tick populations by physical, mechanical, biological and chemical methods. It is also reviewed other measures as the utility of educational programs and the use of human vaccines. On the other hand, we also review some key aspects referred to the measures to carry out after tick bites as how to remove a tick correctly and the utility of making an antibiotic prophylaxis.

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Analysis of Amblyomma surveillance data in the Caribbean: Lessons for future control programmes

Cited by 14 publications

References 12 publications

Heartwater – Ehrlichia ruminantium infection

Heartwater – Ehrlichia ruminantium infection

Efficacy of slow-release tags impregnated with aggregation-attachment pheromone and deltamethrin for control of Amblyomma variegatum on St. Kitts, West Indies

Prevention and Prophylaxis of Tick Bites and Tick-Borne Related Diseases

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