Determination of the Prevalence of Ixodid Ticks of Cattle Breeds, Their Predilection Sites of Variation and Tick Burden Between Different Risk Factors in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

摘要

A cross sectional study was conducted from October 2013 to April 2014 in and around Bahir Dar townwith the objectives of determining the prevalence of ixodid ticks and assessing the difference in infestationamong the different risk factors such as breed, age, sex, body condition score and management systems. A totalof 1500 adult Ixodid ticks were collected from cattle (Bos indicus vs., Bos indicus × Bos taurus).A total 404cattle were randomly selected and examined. Results showed that the overall prevalence of tick infestation wasfound to be 74% (299/404). Four tick genera were identified with the constituents of Rhipicephalus (formerlyBoophilus) (47.93%), Hyalomma (33.13%), Amblyomma (18.47%) and Rhipicephalus (0.47%). The five tickspecies identified with their respective prevalence were R. (B.) decoloratus (47.93%), H. rufipes (33.13%),A. variegatum (18.27%), R. evertsi evertsi (0.47%) and A. cohaerens (0.20%). Among others, R. (B.) decoloratusand A. cohaerens were the most and least abundant tick species, respectively. The sex ratio of all ticks identifiedwas skewed towards male except for B. decoloratus. The prevalence of tick infestation was found significantlydifferent (x =12.976, P3 years (85.1%) than both 1-3 years (62.7%) and 0.05). The high prevalence of tick infestation in the study area might be associated to lack ofcommunity awareness about the impact of ticks, health care services and management practices of cattle. It isstrongly suggested that the need to implement community awareness together with the setting up of tickprevention and control strategies.