Prevalence and Risk Factors of Tick Infestation in Sheep for Different Localities in River Nile State –Sudan

Abstract

Across sectional study was conducted between June to August 2018 in River Nile State, Sudan to investigate the prevalence of tick infestation in sheep. In addition to that, therisk factors (localities, herd size, housing type, rearing system, feeding type, breed, sex, age, coat color, seasons, tick control, methods of tick control, and removal of manure) that might be associated with tick infestationwere also investigated. Totally, 340 ticks (male 185, female 155) were collected from 135 sheep between June to August 2018. Tick collection was carried out in five localities namely, Shendi, Al Matamah , Ad-Damer, Atbara , and Berber. Around 66.7% of total examined animals were infested with ticks, while 33.3 % of them were not infested with ticks. Based on the locality, Atbara showed the highest prevalence of tick infestation (100 %), followed by Ad- Damer (81.8 % ), Shendi (76.2 %) , Berber (55.6 %), and the lowest prevalence was observed in Al Matamah (28 %). The results showed that the most abundant tick species collected in this survey were Rhipicephalus eversti eversti (38%), followed by Hyalomma anatolicum (23.8 %), Rhipicephalussanguineus (20.6%),Rhipicephalus praetextatus (16.4%), and Hyalomma dromedarii (1.2%). The chi – square analysis showed that there was a significant association between tick infestation and localities ( p = 0.000 ) , housing type ( p = 0.000 ), feeding type ( p = 0.000), sex( p = 0.021), control of tick ( p = 0.001 ), methods of tick control ( p = 0.005), and removal of manure (p = 0.000 ). On the other hand there was no significant association was observed between tick infestation and herd size (p = 0.481), rearing system (p =0.127), age (p = 0.754), coat color (p =0.846), These results showed that the prevalence of tick infestation in sheep in the River Nile State's localities was high. Therefore, more studies are required in order to control ticks and minimize their distribution This study is a part of a project aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with ticks infestation in ruminants (cattle, sheep, and goats) in River Nile state in order to highlight the need for effective control measures and to reduce the prevalence of tick.