Prevalence and species composition of ixodid ticks infesting horses in three agroecologies in central Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the species composition and prevalence of ixodid ticks infesting horses in three agroecological zones in central Ethiopia. For this purpose, a total of 1,168 horses were examined for tick infestation. An overall prevalence of 39.04% of tick infestation on horses was recorded. A total of 917 adult ticks were collected from infested horses. Amblyomma, Boophilus, Rhipicephalus, and Hyalomma genera with the respective prevalence of 3.2%, 1.8%, 29.2%, and 4.7% were identified. In the study, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi was encountered with the highest prevalence (15.8%) whereas Amblyomma gemma was with lowest prevalence (1.5%). From the highland, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes (3.1%), Hyalomma truncatum (1.0%), and Boophilus decoloratus (0.3%) were identified. From the midland, R. evertsi evertsi (27.5%), Rhipicephalus pulchellus (18%), Amblyomma variegatum (3.6%), B. decoloratus (2.8%), H. marginatum rufipes (2.6%), H. truncatum (1.8%), and A. gemma (1.5%) were identified. R. evertsi evertsi, 107 (27.5%), was with the highest prevalence in the midland. From the lowland, R. pulchellus (22.3%), R. evertsi evertsi (20%), H. truncatum (3.6%), A. gemma (3.1%), B. decoloratus (2.3%), H. marginatum rufipes (2.1%), and A. variegatum (1.5%) were identified. In the lowland, R. pulchellus, 87 (22.3%), was the most abundant tick species. The overall prevalence of tick infestation on horses was significantly (P<0.05) higher both in the midland, 225 (57.8%), and the lowland, 214 (54.87%), than the highland, 17 (4.4%). This suggests that horses in midland and lowland are at higher risk of tick infestation than those horses in the highland. Further studies on the role of ticks in transmission of diseases to equines and the importance of horses as alternative hosts in different parts of Ethiopia are needed.

A cross‐sectional study of hard ticks (acari: ixodidae) on horse farms to assess the risk factors associated with tick‐borne diseases

“…The observed prevalence (35.82%) was less than those that have been reported in other studies on horse ticks, that is 39.04% in Ethiopia (Kumsa et al, 2012), 85% in Oklahoma state, United States (Duell et al, 2013) and 99.48% in Cameroon (Payne et al, 2017). In this study, two species, H. anatolicum and R. microplus, were found in all the selected five districts, while the remaining three species were found only in Nushki, Pishin and Chagai districts.…”

“…These genera have also been reported to parasitize horses in other parts of the world (Kumsa et al, 2012;Duell et al, 2013;Pires et al, 2013;Gharbi et al, 2018;Tirosh-Levy et al, 2018;Kumar & Scheiter, 2019). Equine granulocytic anaplasmosis, CCHF and babesiosis are highly prevalent diseases in Balochistan and can be transmitted from ticks to horses and thence to farmers (Saleem et al, 2018).…”

Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. L. Ixodid ticks infesting horses and donkeys

“…More collections of R. evertsi evertsi have been made from horses, donkeys and plains zebras in the Afrotropical region than any other Rhipicephalus species (Walker et al 2000 ). It is the dominant species on horses in South Africa and in Oramia Regional State in Ethiopia, and on donkeys in South Africa and Botswana (Kumsa et al 2012 ; Mushi et al 2003 ; Tables 1 and 2 ). The prevalence of R. evertsi evertsi on horses and donkeys in South Africa and Botswana was considerably higher than that on these animals in Ethiopia.…”

“…Despite the long association between horses, donkeys and humans in South Africa, it is strange that so little attention has been paid to the ixodid ticks with which they are infested. With the exception of surveys on the ticks that infest donkeys in Botswana (Mushi et al 2003 ) and donkeys and horses in Ethiopia (Ferede et al 2010 ; Kumsa et al 2012 ), there are no comprehensive studies on the ticks that infest these animals in sub-Saharan Africa. The data that are available are fragmented in that they generally have to be garnered from publications or surveys in which horses and donkeys as well as other animals were examined for ticks.…”

“…Ferede et al ( 2010 ) collected A. variegatum, H. rufipes, R. evertsi evertsi, R. ( Boophilus ) spp., Rhipicephalus muhsamae and a tick they referred to as R. sanguineus from a total of 450 donkeys in a survey conducted in two districts in central Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. In the same region of Oromia, Kumsa et al ( 2012 ) collected A. gemma, A. variegatum, H. rufipes, H. truncatum, R. decoloratus, R. evertsi evertsi and R. pulchellus from 1168 horses distributed in highland, midland and lowland localities.…”