Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. L. Ixodid ticks infesting horses and donkeys

Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. L. Ixodid ticks infesting horses and donkeys
 
Creator Horak, Ivan G. Heyne, Heloise Halajian, Ali Booysen, Shalaine Smit, Willem J.
 
Subject Veterinary Science; Veterinary parasitology; Ixodid ticks Horses; Donkeys; Ixodid ticks; Disease implications; South Africa
Description The aim of the study was to determine the species spectrum of ixodid ticks that infest horses and donkeys in South Africa and to identify those species that act as vectors of disease to domestic livestock. Ticks were collected opportunistically from 391 horses countrywide by their owners or grooms, or by veterinary students and staff at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. Ticks were also collected from 76 donkeys in Limpopo Province, 2 in Gauteng Province and 1 in North West province. All the ticks were identified by means of a stereoscopic microscope. Horses were infested with 17 tick species, 72.1% with Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi, 19.4% with Amblyomma hebraeum and 15.6% with Rhipicephalus decoloratus. Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi was recovered from horses in all nine provinces of South Africa and R. decoloratus in eight provinces. Donkeys were infested with eight tick species, and 81.6% were infested with R. evertsi evertsi, 23.7% with A. hebraeum and 10.5% with R. decoloratus. Several tick species collected from the horses and donkeys are the vectors of economically important diseases of livestock. Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi is the vector of Theileria equi, the causative organism of equine piroplasmosis. It also transmits Anaplasma marginale, the causative organism of anaplasmosis in cattle. Amblyomma hebraeum is the vector of Ehrlichia ruminantium, the causative organism of heartwater in cattle, sheep and goats, whereas R. decoloratus transmits Babesia bigemina, the causative organism of babesiosis in cattle.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor National Research Foundation University of Pretoria
Date 2017-02-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Survey based on opportunistic collections
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ojvr.v84i1.1302
 
Source Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research; Vol 84, No 1 (2017); 6 pages 2219-0635 0030-2465
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1302/1591 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1302/1590 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1302/1592 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1302/1581
 
Coverage South Africa 2013 to 2015 Adult; both genders; horses
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Ivan G. Horak, Heloise Heyne, Ali Halajian, Shalaine Booysen, Willem J. Smit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT