Prevalence, risk factors and species diversity of ixodid ticks that parasitize dromedary camel in Yabello District of Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross sectional study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and species’ diversity of ixodid ticks that parasitize dromedary camel since October 2016 to March 2017. A total of 384 dromedary camels from five peasant association in Yabello District were examined. A total of 4417 ticks were collected from 374 camels. The average burden of the tick was 11.8 per camel while a male to female ratio was 1.9 to 1. Four genera: Rhipicephalus (85.6%) Ambylomma (3.65%), Hyalomma (5.57%) and Boophilus (1.34%) and eight species: Rh. pulchellus, Rh. pravus, A. gemma, A. lepidium, A. variegatum, H.m. rufipes, H. dromedary and B. decoloratus were identified with prevalence of 90.6, 28.4, 27.1, 2.9, 4.7, 18.5, 27.9 and 10.4%, respectively. Rh. pulchellus has preference for sternum, ana-vuval, head, udder/scrotum and inguinal, Rh. pravus for head, sternum and anal or and vulva; A. gemma for udder/scrotum and B. decoloratus in different body parts. H. rufipes preferred head, sternum and anal/vulva and H. dromedary preferred head, sternum, anal/vulva and udder/scrotum regions. Except B. decoloratus, all tick species had higher number of males than females. There was statistically significant difference in prevalence and level of tick infestation between pastoral associations (PAs) groups of Yabello District and herd size (p<0.05). Tick infestation was found to be among serious health problem of dromedary camel in the study area with higher risk of exposure of these animals to tick-borne diseases. Therefore, this problem observed in the study area warrants immediate professional intervention through implementation of community based sustainable control strategies. Key words: Camel, ixodid tick, borana, Ethiopia