Prevalence of ticks on dogs in Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Dogs are trained and used to unravel criminal intelligence by law enforcement agents, others keep them as pets and to others they serve as meet. In some communities they are used for hunting and sports (Arong et Hoogstraal, 1956). Ticks are vectors of important haemoparasitic diseases of dogs leading to weakness, depression, irritation and splenomegaly, surpassing all other arthropods, apart from mosquitoes, as disease agents (Hoogstraal, et al, 1964). These disease such as Haemobatonella canis constitute some identified diseases that poses a lot of challenge to the health and productivity status of these important animal (James-Rugu 2001, Zeleke and Beleke 2004). Africa, as in other tropical and sub regions of the world, ticks and tick disease in addition to other socio parameters have constituted impediments to the development of the livestock industry (Mohammed and Agbede 1980; De-Castro, 1997; Pegram, 1976 George, 2003). In Jos Plateau, ticks and tick borne disease cause considerable losses to the livestock economy (James-Rugu, 2002 Hoogstraal, 1958). Preliminary information about the species of ticks infesting ABSTRACT Ticks and tick-borne diseases have in addition to other socio constituted major setbacks to the development of an economically viable livestock industry in Nigeria and other parts of the world. The prevalence of ticks on dogs brought t Veterinary clinic and Jos Veterinary clinic all in Jos Plateau State was studied. A total of 1,146 ticks were collected from 300 dogs randomly selected. Three species of ticks all from the family ixodidae were encountered and identified in order of Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Boophilus decoloratus and Haemaphysalis leachii. Of the 154 male dogs examined 70(45.16%) were infested with ticks. Of the remaining 146 female counterpart 85(54.84%) were infested. The investigation further reve dogs were more susceptible to tick infestation 73(47.10%) than the adult hosts 48(30.90%) when compared to the young dogs or puppies who were the least infested 34(22.00%). Statistical analysis using Chi-Square, showed a significant di between sexes of dogs and among tick species (p<0.05) however, such difference was not observed in the ages of dogs and tick species (p>0.05). Based on these findings, any strategy intended at mitigating the problems of tic country at large should take into account the identified tick species.

Molecular characterisation of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks from domestic dogs in Nigeria

“…In line with our findings, the brown dog tick, R. sanguineus , has been reported to be the most prevalent tick species of dogs in Nigeria (Adetayo et al., 2021 ; Akande et al., 2018 ; Kamani et al., 2018; Shitta et al., 2018 ) and other parts of the world including Algeria (Kebbi et al., 2019 ) Egypt (Abdullah et al., 2016 ), Great Britain (Smith et al., 2011 ), Italy (Maurelli et al., 2018 ), Indonesia (Hadi et al., 2016 ) and China (Zhang et al., 2017 ). The 61.8% prevalence of R. sanguineus we observed in this study is within the prevalence documented by previous researchers on the abundance of R. sanguineus within and outside of Nigeria (Abdullah et al., 2016 ; Akande et al., 2018 ; Maurelli et al., 2018 ; Shitta et al., 2018 ). Amblyomma variegatum and Haemaphysalis leachi have been reported to infest dogs in Nigeria ( Akande et al., 2018 ; Konto et al., 2014; Shitta et al., 2018 ).…”

“…The 61.8% prevalence of R. sanguineus we observed in this study is within the prevalence documented by previous researchers on the abundance of R. sanguineus within and outside of Nigeria (Abdullah et al., 2016 ; Akande et al., 2018 ; Maurelli et al., 2018 ; Shitta et al., 2018 ). Amblyomma variegatum and Haemaphysalis leachi have been reported to infest dogs in Nigeria ( Akande et al., 2018 ; Konto et al., 2014; Shitta et al., 2018 ).…”

Study of Canine Babesiosis in Pet and Stray Dogs of Kathmandu Valley

“…This study revealed that there is no significant difference in the sex-wise prevalence of babesiosis, but female dogs have a higher prevalence than male ones. The findings resemble those of studies conducted by Shitta et al (2012) and Phuyal et al (2017), who found higher prevalence of Babesia spp. in females than in males.…”