Prevalence of hard tick infesting cattle with a special reference to microscopic and molecular early diagnosis of tick born piroplasms

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Parasitology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Moshtohor, Toukh,13736, Egypt

Abstract

The current study aimed to conclude the prevalence of hard ticks infesting cattle in Qalyobia governorate and to investigate
the developmental stages of cattle piroplasms in ticks hemolymph. A total of 600 cattle were haphazardly examined for tick
infestation throughout the period from April 2013 to March 2014. Hemolymph samples of 1550 ticks were extracted, stained
by Giemsa again and microscopically inspected under oil immersion lens. Moreover, PCR assay was applied to amplify
18SrRNA genes of Babesia and Theileria in 40 microscopically negative hemolymph samples. The study revealed that
6.17% of cattle were infested by ticks. Rhipicephalus turanicus and Rhipicephalus praetextatus (70.02% and 29.98%
respectively) were the recorded tick species. Ticks showed a great tendency to attach to the udder and inguinal regions
(34.46%), while the two sides were the least infested (7.69%). No recorded significant effect of sex on the rate of infestation
(P> 0.05). Cattle at age of 3-5 years were significantly more infested (78.38%) than those of 2-3 years (16.22 %) and those
of 8months -2 years (5.41%). Microscopic examination of tick hemolymph revealed the presence of piroplasm
developmental stages in 39.23% and 49.4% of hemolymph samples obtained from Rhipicephalus turanicus and
Rhipicephalus praetextatus respectively. PCR analysis further revealed that amongst 40 ticks whose hemolymph were
microscopically negative, 25% and 12.5% were positive for Babesia and Theileria sp. respectively. The results concluded
that Rhipecephalus turanicus and Rhipicephalus praetextatus are the common tick species infesting cattle in the study area.
PCR assay is proved to be more efficient and sensitive than the microscopic assay for identification of the developmental
stages of piroplasms in tick hemolymph. Thus, allowing the easy and rapid surveillance of the endemicity of piroplasm
infection among tick sp. and consequently application of emphasized control programs

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