Cattle tick-borne pathogens sharing the same vectors in Benin and Burkina Faso: variations in prevalence and coinfection patterns

Abstract

Understanding interactions between pathogens at the level of the individual host and the population in West Africa, may have noteworthy implications for predictions of diseases emergence and disease control programmes. Hence, the current study was aimed at investigating the interactions between Anaplasma marginale, Babesia bigemina and B. bovis in West African cattle. Twelve sentinel steers in each of the eight selected herds were randomly chosen to perform a one-year-long survey designed to monthly collect blood sample and to diagnose possible infections of the steers. This allowed identifying A. marginale as the most prevalent pathogen across the three surveyed regions (range: 0.60-1), followed by B. bigemina (0.24-0.85) and B. bovis (0.10-0.64); the same ranking order of the tick-borne pathogens was observed when considering the apparent duration of cattle infection. Regarding interaction patterns, mainly avoidance was revealed between A. marginale and B. bigemina and between B. bigemina and B. bovis. Such negative interaction seemed to be beneficial to the West African cattle surveyed, helping them to escape from babesiosis caused by B. bovis. Altogether, studied Boophilus tick-borne pathogens negatively interact within cattle in Benin and Burkina Faso. This pattern raises new questions regarding the underlying mechanisms and potential consequences.