Background: Climate change is believed to be continuously affecting ticks by influencing their habitat suitability. However, we attempted to model the climate change-induced impacts on future genus Rhipicephalus distribution considering the major environmental factors that would influence the tick. Therefore, 50 tick occuance points were taken to model the potential distribution using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) software and 19 climatic variables, taking into account the ability for future climatic change under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, were used. Results: MaxEnt model performance was tested and found with the AUC value of 0.99 which indicates excellent goodness-of-fit and predictive accuracy. Current models predict increased temperatures, both in the mid and end terms together with possible changes of other climatic factors like precipitation which may lead to higher tickborne disease risks associated with expansion of the range of the targeted tick distribution. Distribution maps were constructed for the current, 2050, and 2070 for the two greenhouse gas scenarios and the most dramatic scenario; RCP 8.5 produced the highest increase probable distribution range. Conclusions: The future potential distribution of the genus Rhipicephalus show potential expansion to the new areas due to the future climatic suitability increase. These results indicate that the genus population of the targeted tick could emerge in areas in which they are currently lacking; increased incidence of tick-borne diseases poses further risk which can affect cattle production and productivity, thereby affecting the livelihood of smallholding farmers. Therefore, it is recommended to implement climate change adaptation practices to minimize the impacts.

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A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December, 2016 in Semi-arid areas of Raya Azebo District with the objectives to estimate the prevalence of ixodid ticks and assessing the difference in infestation among the different host risk factors such as age, sex and body condition scores. A total of 2697 adult ixodid ticks were collected from 488 Raya cattle breed selected randomly. Tick species were identified morphologically and the prevalence of the infested animals was estimated in relation to sex, age and body condition score. The study revealed that cattle in the study area were infested with atleast one or more ticks with an overall prevalence of 90% (405/448). Six tick species that belongs to the genera of Rhipicephalus (54%), subgenus Boophilus (5%), Amblyomma (3%) and Hyalomma (2.7%) were also identified. The overall prevalence of ticks on cattle with the age from 6 months to 2 years, 3-5 years and greater than 5 years was 90%, 90%, and 92% respectively. A prevalence of 91% in female and 90% in male cattle was also observed. Similarly, the prevalence of ticks was 100 %, 90.7% and 70% in poor, medium and good body conditioned animals, respectively. The high prevalence and presence of many species of ticks may damage the hide and skins of the cattle and thereby contribute to reduced income from cattle. Hence, appropriate control measures using acaricides, improved cattle management practices and community awareness creation are recommended.