Prevalence of Tick Infestations and Tick-Borne Diseases in Cattle in 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.