Skin lesions and cattle hide damage from Haematobia irritans infestations

Abstract

The horn fly Haematobia irritans L. (Diptera: Muscidae) has recently spread to Argentina and Uruguay and is believed to cause damage to cattle hides. Four groups of ten Holstein steers each were maintained for 58 weeks under different infestation levels with H. irritans to determine if it was the cause of this problem. Hides (chrome tanned) from steers maintained under minimum infestation level had 4.7 +/- 3.8% of the area damaged. Maintaining the steers under low H. irritans level for the last 44 days of the trial using insecticidal ear-tags, resulted in 29.5 +/- 15.8% of hide area being damaged. Steers that were treated with 5% cypermethrin pour-on, when the H. irritans population was close to 50 flies, showed that 31.3 +/- 16.6% of hide area was injured, and 46.6 +/- 12.8% of damaged hide area was found in hides from non-treated steers. Significant differences were found between mean hide damage from steers maintained continuously under low H. irritans infestation levels and all other groups. Hyperaemia was significantly lower in the skin of steers under low H. irritans infestation level than in the skins of non-treated steers and steers maintained under low-level infestations for the final 44 days. Eosinophil and mononuclear cell infiltration was significantly lower when the population of H. irritans was less than six per steer than when the population was more than 100 flies per steer. Low numbers of Stomoxys calcitrans were found in all groups, but most hide damage was presumed due to H. irritans.

Dinâmica populacional da mosca-dos-chifres (Haematobia irritans) em bovinos da raça Guzerá e mestiço em Selvíria, MS

“…Um animal com média de 500 moscas/dia pode sofrer uma perda anual de aproximadamente 2,6 litros de sangue, redução no ganho de peso e na produção de leite (SAUERESSIG, 1992;FARIA, 1998;GARCIA et al, 2001). Grisi et al(2002) (SAUERESSIG, 1992;GUGLIELMONE et al, 1999).…”

Interaction and activity of nematophagous fungus Duddingtonia flagrans on Haematobia irritans (Diptera: Muscidae)

“…Consequently, this "irritating and painful" activity of the fly is reflected in lower animal productivity, resulting in economic losses for the producer (Chagas et al, 2010). Bianchin et al (2004) reported that the weight loss of the animals may reach 10%, while the bites directly damage leather quality (Saueressig, 1992;Guglielmone et al, 1999).…”

Eficácia da associação de cipermetrina, clorpirifós, butóxido de piperonila e fluazuron contra haematobia irritans em bovinos naturalmente infestados

“…Outra perda ocasionada por este ectoparasito está relacionada a menor qualidade do couto. A picada dessa mosca provoca uma reação inflamatória local que torna a pele espessa e reduz sua flexibilidade (Guglielmone et al, 1999;Cupp et al, 2000;Maciel et al, 2015).…”