Inventory of lice of mammals and farmyard chicken in North-eastern Algeria

Abstract

Background and Aim:Lice are permanent ectoparasites, extremely specific to their hosts. Their great importance in veterinary medicine remain significant, they can cause their direct pathogenic actions like irritability, dermatitis, anemia, decreased weight gain, and milk production. The purpose of this work was to made the first time an inventory of mammalian lice in North-eastern Algeria.Materials and Methods:Our survey of lice infestation was conducted on several animal species from five provinces of North-eastern Algeria. A total of 57 cattle, 83 sheep, 77 goats, 111 wild boars, and 63 farmyard chickens were examined. The collection of lice was carried out much more in mammals and chickens during the winter period. Lice were collected either manually or using brushing and kept in flasks containing 70% ethanol. The identification of lice was achieved in the laboratory using a binocular loupe.Results:Concerning cattle, 63% and 27% of those examined subjects from Souk-Ahras and Guelma study areas, respectively, were carriers of lice. Damalinia bovis was the louse most frequently found on cattle in these two regions. Three other species were identified in Souk-Ahras: Haematopinus eurysternus (25%), Linognathus vituli (10%), and Solenopotes capillatus (5%). Regarding sheep, 39% and 24% of examined animals in Souk-Ahras and Guelma, were carrying lice. Damalinia ovis was the most frequently encountered lice on sheep in both regions. Linognathus ovillus also was identified in Souk-Ahras, representing 0.3% of the collected lice. Concerning goats, 53% and 30% of examined animals in Souk-Ahras and Guelma, were parasitized of lice. Two species of lice were found: Damalinia caprae and Linognathus africanus. For farmyard chickens, 69% and 100% of the farmyard chicken in Souk-Ahras and Mila were parasitized by lice, respectively. Menopon gallinae was the most frequently encountered louse in farmyard chicken in both regions. Eight other species were identified in Mila and four other species only in Souk-Ahras. Finally, 25% and 28% of the wild boars in Annaba and El Tarf were parasitized by lice, respectively. Haematopinus suis was the only species found on wild boars in both regions.Conclusion:These results are to be taken into account for lice control schemes and louse-borne diseases.

Prevalence of ectoparasites in free-range backyard chicken flocks in northeast Algeria

“…Furthermore, chewing lice infestation peaks were recorded in winter, spring, and autumn. Our results are in line with previous findings (Meguini et al, 2018;Kaboudi et al, 2019).…”

“…M. gallinae was the most predominant ectoparasite found in this study, corroborating previous reports from northeast Algeria (64.83%) (Meguini et al, 2018) and Ethiopia (49%) (Solomon and Elsabet, 2010). However, its abundance here was lower than in Iran (13.66%) (Rezaei et al, 2016) and California (11%) (Murillo and Mullens, 2016).…”

“…Five chewing lice species were identified in this study: M. gallinae, G. dissimilis, M. stramineus, G. gallinae, L. caponis. The presence of these species confirm the finding reported in north-eastern Algeria (Medjouel et al, 2013;Meguini et al, 2018). Four of five species identified in the present study were also detected in Pakistan (Nadeem et al, 2007).…”

“…Several studies have been conducted on poultry ectoparasites in Africa (Permin et al, 2002;Mata et al, 2018;Serda and Abdi, 2018;Kaboudi et al, 2019). Few studies have been conducted in Algeria, mainly on chewing lice inventory in the northwest and northeast of the country (Medjouel et al, 2013;Medjouel et al, 2014;Meguini et al, 2018). The aim of the present study was to identify and estimate the prevalence of backyard chicken ectoparasites in northeast Algeria.…”

Gallancyra gen. nov. (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera), with an overview of the geographical distribution of chewing lice parasitizing chicken

“…The known geographical distributions of eight species of ischnoceran chewing lice and four species of amblyceran chewing lice known from domestic chicken are summarized in Figs 1-4, based on the sources listed in Table 1. Note that these maps do not include species such as Chelopistes meleagridis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Meguini et al 2018) or Goniocotes microthorax (Stephens, 1829) (Sychra et al 2008) that represent stragglers originating from mixed poultry flocks. Cases where the lice appear to have been erroneously identified to genus or species level (e.g., Sadiq et al 2003) are also not included.…”