An Investigationintothe Tickand Tick-BorneHemoparastic Diseasesin Cattlein Khartoum State - Sudan

Abstract

In the Veterinary Medicine and animal production importance of ticks and tick-borne diseases (TBDs) is reflected in the economy and food security of the population and causes serous economic loss throughout the world. The health of animals can be affected by the direct and indirect infestation of ticks, causing significant losses in the production of meat, milk, leathers, and in many cases the death of the affected animals. This study was carried out from February 2017 to January 2018, in 15 different sites in the state. The investigated areas for samples selected included (El-Ahamda, Karari, EL-Rudwn, EL-Salam, Abuseid, Mowailih, Shambat, El-Kadroo, Elfaki Hashim, Kuku village, El-Shegla, El-Silate, Eilafoonin, Soba and El-Remila) in at each location 40 animals (both male and female) were randomly selected Cattle were examined for tick borne pathogens and tick parasites; Theileria annulata, Anaplasma marginale and Babesia bovis were identified as tick borne pathogens, nine species of ticks which belong to three genera namely Amblyomma, Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus were examined and identified on the basis of morphological characters. The hard tick species were Hyalomma a.anatolicum, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, Amblyomma lepidum, Hyalomma truncatum, Rhipicephalus B. decoloratus, Hyalomma impeltatum, Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, Rhipicephalus sanguineus group and Hyalomma dromedarii as tick parasites. The results showed that the most abundant tick pathogen was Theileria annulata followed by Anaplasma marginale and Babesia bovis. According to the rick factors; the infection rates increased with grow older, prevalence rate in (females) cows was higher than (males) bulls, local breed slightly lower than in crossbred cattle, in different body conditions revealed lowest infection rate in good body condition followed by medium body condition while the highest prevalence was in poor body condition. In ticks detection; the results indicated that these cattle were infested with different tick species which belong to three genera were identified namely Amblyomma (263) 9.29%, Hyalomma (1928) 68.10% and Rhipicephalus (640)22.6 %. The prevalent hard ticks of each species according to abundance were Hyalomma.a.anatolicum 63.01%, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi 18.47%, Amblyomma lepidum 9.29%, Hyalomma truncatum 2.96%, Rhipicephalus B. decoloratus 2.33%, x Hyalomma impeltatum 1.90%, Hyalomma.m .rufipes 0.95%, Rhipicephalus sanguineus group 0.67% and Hyalomma dromedarii 0.38%. The prevalence rate of male ticks 68.28 %( 1820/2831) collected in this study in whole ticks species was exceeding those of the female ticks (1011/2831) 35.71%. According to the rick factors; age based prevalence showed that tick infestations was found higher in adult >3 years age group compere with young age group 1–3 years and calf <1 year age group. Female cattle (cows) showed almost similar prevalence rate 78.18 %( 319/408) with ticks infestation than male bulls 77.08 %( 148/192). According to cattle body condition found that 62.70% of good body condition, 82.67% of medium body condition and 89.9% of thin poor body condition were positive tick infestation. Prevalence rate of infected cattle was 75.14% (266/354) in local breed while in crossbred was 81.70 % (201/246). Also we conclude that clinical diagnosis by optical microscopy is still useful but not sensitive as molecular technique (PCR); using microscopic examination is not suitable for detecting the carrier when the parasitemia is low or in chronic cases compared to (PCR) technique which is a sensitive and accurate method for diagnosis even in early stage and carrier of infection. Statistically, chi-squared test were used determine significant relationship between risk factors and presence of tick and tick borne diseases. Analysis of risk factors showed association with ticks and tick-borne diseases under a significant level (value of p ≤ 0.05). In tick detection there were associations between both age and body condition with tick infestation (p-value equal 0.000). In tick borne pathogens detection; Microscopic examination revealed that there was an association with area (p-value equal 0.004) while in molecular examination (PCR) were associations between area (p-value equal 0.000), age (p-value equal 0.000) and sex (p-value equal 0.028) with tick borne pathogens (p-value equal 0.000). Level of Agreement between Microscope and Molecular technique was done by the kappa statistic test. PCR detected (60.7%) while microscope examination detected (17.8%); the agreement level between both techniques was slight agreement according to result (kappa = 0.12)