Author(s)

Hamidou Hayatou^1,2*, Félix Meutchieye¹, Fatima Ezzahra Amarir², Abdelkbir Rhalem², Mohammed Bouslikhane³, Julius Awah-Ndukum⁴

¹Biotechnology and Bio-Informatics Research Unit, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.
²Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Pathology and Veterinary Public Health, Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Institute (IAV), Rabat, Morocco.
³Laboratory of Microbiology, Epidemiology and Pathology of Animal Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases Research Unit, Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Institute (IAV), Rabat, Morocco.
⁴Animal Physiology and Health Research Unit, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Agricultural Sciences, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.

Ticks induce huge production and economic losses in the livestock industry and create serious environmental, animal and human health problems. The study was carried out to characterize tick species and determine the prevalence of tick infestation and tick-borne diseases in cattle in Cameroon. Tick and blood samples were collected from a total of 742 animals and analyzed to determine the type of tick and haemoparasites using standard procedures. Overall, four tick species namely Amblyomma variegatum (75.09%), Rhipicephalus microplus (19.43%), Rhipicephalus decoloratus (0.88%) and Hyalomma marginatum (0.18%) and six blood disease agents including Anapalasma marginale (11.29%), Ehrlichia ruminantium (3.52%), Babesia bovis (1.32%), Babesia major (0.44%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (0.29%) and Dermatophilus congolensis (3.37%). Various co-infections were recorded and the predominant associations were Amblyomma variegatum-Rhipicephalus microplus (4.06%) and Amblyomma variegatum-Hyalomma marginatum (0.36%); Anaplasma-Ehrlichia (12%), Anaplasma-Dematophylus (8%), Babesia-Anaplasma-Ehrlichia (14%) and Babesia-Anaplasma-Ehrlichia-Dermato-phylus (5%). Breed, sex, age and locality significantly influenced the rate of tick infestation while locality, breed and age significantly influenced the detection of blood disease agents in the study.

Prevalence, Tick, Blood Disease, Cattle, Cameroon

Hayatou, H. , Meutchieye, F. , Amarir, F. , Rhalem, A. , Bouslikhane, M. and Awah-Ndukum, J. (2023) Prevalence of Tick Infestations and Tick-Borne Diseases in Cattle in Cameroon. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 13, 560-573. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2023.134039.