Prevalence and Morphological Identification of Tick Species Infes-tation in Goat in Chittagong, Bangladesh

Jannatul Noor1, Md. Ahaduzzaman2, Mir Md. Afzal Hossain2, Mohammad Alamgir Hossain3, Sardar Abdur Rahim4 and Md. Samun Sarker5*

Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding; Department of Medicine and Surgery; Department of Pathology and Parasitology, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU), Chittagong, Bangladesh; Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Science, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, Bangladesh. Department of Microbiology and Veterinary Public Health,CVASU, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Editor | Muhammad Abubakar, National Veterinary Laboratories, Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Received | June 02, 2016; Accepted | July 20, 2016; Published | July 22,, 2016

*Correspondence | Md. Samun Sarker, Department of Microbiology and Veterinary Public Health, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chittagong, Bangladesh; Email: samun_cvasu@yahoo.com

Citation | Noor, J., M. Ahaduzzaman, M.M.A. Hossain, M.A. Hossain, M.S. Sarker and S.A. Rahim. 2016. Prevalence and morphological identification of tick species infestation in goat in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Veterinary Sciences: Research and Reviews, 2(2): 42-46.

DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.vsrr/2016.2.2.42.46

Introduction

The Tick is one of the most economically important parasites of goat in tropical and subtropical countries like Bangladesh (Jongejan and Uilenberg, 1994). Ticks are hematophagous arthropods belonging to the Class Arachnids. Ticks are important to livestock and wildlife animals because of transmitting different vector borne diseases, directly damage the host body by piercing the skin. They are acting not only as potential vectors, but also as reservoirs of certain infectious agents such as Pasteurella multocida, Brucella abortus and Salmonella Typhimurium in man and animals (Jongejan and Uilenberg, 2004). Specialization of mouthparts of parasite to take food from host body for advantage of specific attachment sites and utilizing different food sources (Simkova et al., 2002). They attach to a host for a blood meal and they can cause skin irritation and anemia. Usually a tick or its instars suck 0.8 to 2.0 ml blood in a day and one female tick can suck more blood than thirty times of her weight during engorgement (Sangwan et al., 1995). Opara and Ezeh (2011) estimated that more than 80% of goat population is infested by ticks, leading tick borne diseases such as hemorrhagic fever, anaplasmosis, theileriosis, louping ill and viral encephalomylites. Ticks also transmit different zoonotic diseases like Lyme Borreliosis, tick borne encephalitis, relapsing fever or Rocky Mountain spotted fever (Gray, 1998). Different animals and environmental factors are associated with the co-infection pattern of tick having spatial and temporal pattern (Gilbert, 2010). Ticks are found in different parts of the body, such as ear, mouth, muzzle, thoracic and abdominal region, around the scrotum, tail and lower part of the leg sometimes found in the vulva and anal region (Biswas, 2003). Ticks also irritate the animal body, resulting damages the hide and skin leading to significant financial losses to livestock’s farmer (Biswas, 2003). There are very minimum literatures and information about the ticks and their infestation in goat in Bangladesh. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of ticks in relation to age, sex, breed, coat color, rearing system and available tick species found on the area.

Figure 1: Boophilus sp.

Figure 2: Haemaphysalis sp.

The sample (tick) was collected from goat in randomly different parts of the body, namely ear, mouth part, tail, legs and mostly (80%) tick from ear by using forceps. The samples were kept in 10% formalin containing vials. A record keeping sheet was used to record demographic information about goats. Later, the samples were transferred to the Parasitology laboratory at Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU). Finally, with the help of microscopic examination three species of ticks (Boophilus sp., Haemophysalis sp. and Hyalomma sp.) were morphologically identified according to Kettle (1994) and (Figure 1, 2 and 3).

Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis was performed by using STATA-13 software. Significance of difference was determined by using chi square test. The value of p ≤ 0.05 considered as statistically significant.

Results

The breed wise proportionate of tick infestation in Black Bengal, Jamuna Pari and cross breed were 53.33%, 33.33% and 13.33% respectively with a significant variation (p=0.000). The highest prevalence was found in Black coat color goats (53.33%) in comparison to others (p=0.00). According to age-wise prevalence, young goats (<6 months) were more prone (55.00%) than other age (6 months to > 1 year) (p=0.00). Prevalence of tick infestation in male goats (58.33%) was found higher than female goats (41.67%) (p=0.036). Semi intensive system showed the highest prevalence (63.33%) to infestation than goat reared under free range and intensive management system. Among the different body parts, ear was mostly affected (66.67%) with significant difference (p=0.00). Boophilus sp. (61.67%) were mostly common than Haemophysalis sp. (30%) and Hyalomma sp. (8.33%).

Figure 3: Hyalomma sp.

The present study was identified three tick species (Boophilus sp, Hyalomma sp and Hemophysalis sp) that previously been observed on the goat by Rony et al. (2010). All three species infest a broad range of host species and serve as vectors for several important disease agents of livestock and wildlife such as anaplasmosis, babesiosis etc. (Walker et al., 2003). In the current study, did not enumerate total tick populations on each host. In particular, expected to miss the most larval and many nymphal ticks because live sampling of ticks bias towards adults (Horak et al., 2006). Black Bengal goats were highly susceptible (53.33%) than Jamuna Pari (33.33%) and cross breed (13.33%) with significant variation (p=0.00) that agreed with Rony et al. (2010). The black coat color showed higher prevalence (53.33%) than others (p=0.00). There were no data available on coat color. The study counted far more infectious in males (58.33%) on the host than females (41.67%) (p=0.036). This is typical for the most of Boophilus sp. followed by Haemaphysalis sp., where the male tick spends more time than females on the host (Horak et al., 2007). The mechanisms underlying this sex bias could be due to horizontal transmission between species and mates (Horak et al., 2006). A study conducted by Kabir et al. (2011) reported that females are more supposed to get infected than the males, which may be due to difference in immune status. Moreover, stresses of production such as pregnancy and lactation make the female animals more prone to any infection. Tick infestation in younger goat (less than 6 months of age) was found more affected (55.00%) than the adult group (greater than 1 year of age) which is in agreement with Jugessur et al. (1998). Ticks were widely distributed in different body parts of the host, such as ear, neck, tail, mammary gland, udder, groin and perianal region, of which ear (66.67%) was the most affected parts of the animal body and tail (1.67%) was the least. However, Kabir et al. (2011) reported that groin (48.75%) was most affected parts of the animal body and face and neck (30%) were the least. The ticks were recovered on the goats under semi-intensive system (63.33%) whereas intensive system were about to free from tick infestation (16.67%). This finding was agreed with Rabbi (2006) who reported, the highest ectoparasitic infestation in semi-intensive system (59.7%) followed by an extensive system (33.5%) and intensive system (8.27%). Whereas, Rony et al. (2010) observed that, higher prevalence of ticks in goats under free-range (83.57%) than semi-intensive (60.0%) and intensive condition. It may be due to the restricted feeding and housing management.

Conclusion

Ecto-parasitic disease is a worldwide problem and considered as a major obstacle in the health and productivity performances of animals. Ticks are directly or indirectly involved in different diseases and also hamper in production. In the current study, three genuses of ticks were identified as Boophilus, Haemophysalis and Hyalomma in goats from three areas. So it has been concluded that ticks are prevalent in the goat population in this study area. Heavily localization of ticks was seen on the ear in goats. Semi intensive rearing system had more prevalent to tick infestation than other management system. The acaricide should be sprayed inside the animal shed to prevent the infestation of animals. Regular deworming and proper husbandry practices also suggested to the animal owners.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Upazila Livestock Officer, Kaptai Upazila Veterinary Hospital, Kaptai and to the academician and the staffs of the Department of Parasitology and SAQTVH at Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, for providing necessary facilities and help in the study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Authors’ Contribution

All authors contributed equally.

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