Prevalence of intra-erythrocytic tick-borne parasites in goats and identification of tick species infesting goats in Sanga Sub-County, Kiruhura District

Abstract

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are major impediments to livestock production that affect health and productivity of small ruminants especially in the tropics and sub-tropics. In Uganda, there have been several studies on the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) in cattle but very few studies have been documented about TBPs in small ruminants in Uganda despite the large population of goats in the country. This study was thus conducted to identify the tick species and Tick-borne parasites infecting goats in 10 farms of selected 8 villages of Sanga sub-county, Kiruhura District. In this investigation, whole blood samples were collected and thin smears prepared for microscopic parasite identification of blood-borne TBPs. In this study, the overall infection rate of Anaplasma spp. was 15.45% (17/110), Theileria spp. 27.27% (30/110) and Co-infection (Anaplasma and Theileria spp.) was 8.18% (9/110). The highest infection rate of Tick-borne parasites was observed in Cross breed (Mubende, Savannah, Kigezi, Boar crosses) goats with 52.9% (9/17) Anaplasma spp.; 63.3% (19/30) Theileria spp. and 77% (7/9) Co-infection. Mature goats had the highest TBPs infection rates i.e., 88.2% (15/17) Anaplasma spp: 70% (21/30) Theileria spp. and 88.9% (8/9) Co-infection compared to the Young animals. The study found out that the overall tick infestation rate was 18.8% at individual animal level with the highest prevalence observed in Tum mixed farm of Kyaapa village (28.6%) and lowest in Kaaro farm of Busheeka village (4.8%). The tick species identified were Rhipicephalus sanguineous (89.29%) and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (10.71%). The findings in this study provide important information on the epidemiology of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Sanga Sub-County, Kiruhura District and show that goats could be potential reservoirs for tick-borne pathogens.