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

Abstract

Ticks and tick-borne diseases have in addition to other socio-economic parameters, 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 to ECWA 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 abundance namely; 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 revealed that adolescent 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 difference in the infestation rate 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 tick infestation of dogs in Jos Plateau and the country at large should take into account the identified tick species.Keywords: Prevalence, ticks, dogs, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.