Journal
TICKS AND TICK-BORNE DISEASES
Volume 4, Issue 6, Pages 488-491Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG
DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2013.06.004
Keywords
Camel; Ticks; Hyalomma; Population dynamics; Tunisia
Categories
Funding
- 'Laboratoire d'epidemiologie des infections enzootiques des herbivores en Tunisie' (Ministere de la recherche scientifique et de la promotion des competences, Tunisia)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [AH 41/7-1]
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A tick population was monitored on 30 camels (Camelus dromedarius) over one year in Kairouan region, Central Tunisia. A total of 1630 ticks was collected. and identified resulting in an estimate of different parasitological indicators. The ticks belonged to 2 genera and 5 species: Hyalomma impeltatum (53%) and Hyalomma dromedarii (45%) were the dominant species followed by Hyalomma excavatum (1%), Hyalomma marginatum (0.5%), and Rhipicephalus turanicus (0.5%) (p < 0.001). Mean infestation prevalence was 90.6%; all the animals were infested by at least one tick from May to September. The highest mean prevalence was observed in H. impeltatum (60%), the lowest was reported in R. turanicus (0.03%) (p<0.05). Mean overall intensity of infestation was 4.4 ticks/animal. The highest mean intensity was observed in H. impeltatum (2.7 ticks/animal). Overall mean abundance of ticks was 4.4 ticks/animal. Different abiotic factors, namely monthly mean minimum and monthly mean maximum temperatures and the number of sunny days were positively correlated with overall monthly tick burdens which were in turn negatively correlated with the monthly mean relative humidity. This is the first study on camel tick dynamics in Tunisia. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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