Review of Economically Important Cattle Tick and Its Control in Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa, but the contribution for the economic aspect of the country is still lowest amount and disease can be considered as major constrain. Ticks are the most important ectoparasites of livestock in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Ethiopia is not exceptional and ticks are responsible for severe economic losses both through the direct effects of blood sucking and indirectly as vectors of pathogens and toxins. Feeding by large numbers of ticks causes reduction in live weight gain and anaemia among domestic animals, while tick bites also reduce the quality of hides. However, the major losses caused by ticks are due to the ability to transmit protozoan, rickettsial and viral diseases of livestock, which are of great economic importance world-wide. This review concerns with general aspects of tick biology, the taxonomy, pathogenic effects and methods for the control of ticks. ticks belong to the suborder Ixodida, which contains a single super family, the Ixodoidea, which is divided into two major families, Argasidae (soft ticks) and Ixodidae (hard ticks), and the rare family Nuttalliellidae, with a single African species. The main tick genera found in domestic animals of Ethiopia are Amblyomma, Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus, Haemaphysalis and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus). Various breeds of cattle differ in their response to tick infestations. Bos indicus pure breeds and crossbreeds were reported to be more innately resistant than Bos Taurus breeds. The conventional method of controlling tick infestations in Ethiopia is application of acaricide, either by hand spraying, by hand dressing. Therefore, to minimize tick adverse effect appropriate and timely strategic control measures are crucial.

Prevalence and Identification of Tick Infestation in Bali’s Cattle in Badung Regency

“…The and Rhipicephalus sanguineus 4 (3.3%) [24]. The difference in these results is because the study location and the type of Area of tick predilection in this study were on the head especially the ears, back, base of the tail and the abdomen, in the scrotum or in the udder, which is almost the same from the reports of some researchers, namely in the head, neck, the inside of the thigh, penis, scrotum, vulva [5,16]. The distribution of tick predilections was also reported in the ears, neck, tail, udder, scrotum [25].…”

“…The distribution of tick predilections was also reported in the ears, neck, tail, udder, scrotum [25]. The place of tick predilection on a cattle's body depends on the type of tick, the inherent opportunity to suck the blood and generally the predilection is in the hairless or short-hairy part [5] and thin skin that has many blood vessels. [18] Dermatophylosis lesions in cattle can be caused by tick bites with characterized by hair loss and formation of scald especially on the neck, back and abdomen [26].…”

Susceptibility of Different Species of Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) to an Entomopathogenic Fungus in Tanzania

“…However, at high concentration of 1.0 × 10 8 conidial/ mL both warm and cold conditions A. oryzae had high activity on three species of ticks whereas R. appendiculatus was more susceptible to than H. anatolicum and A. gemma [47]. Less susceptible of A. gemma at all treatment conditions could be due to high food reservoir keeping it firmer and more active for long time than other ticks and resist to acaricidal in most East African countries [26].…”

“…However, poor animal keeping and grazing method such as free range landraces especially in pastoralist communities have been reported to amplify the problem in Africa including Tanzania [22][23][24]. The hard ticks especially the A. gemma and R. appendiculatus are the main cause of skins and hides damage in Africa [25,26] whereas H. marginatum infest bird skin as well. The overall effect of tick on animals and birds lead to downgrading of hides and skins and finally rejection by processing industries [16,15].…”

Towards a Sustainable One Health Approach to Crimean–Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Prevention: Focus Areas and Gaps in Knowledge

“…However, rotational grazing strategies (frequent movement of cattle between different pens) in the presence [ 117 ] and absence [ 119 ] of acaricide treatment have also been shown to be effective. Pasture management, including rotational grazing of cattle in Australia and in Zambia, as a tick control strategy is believed to be responsible for an overall decrease in tick burdens on livestock animals [ 120 , 121 ]. Investigating these approaches in areas with a high density of Hyalomma ticks would be helpful in determining whether or not they should be promoted in the prevention and control of CCHF.…”