Abstracto

IXODID TICKS OF SHEEP IN EGYPT: PREVALENCE, SEASONAL DYNAMICS, AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS

Amer Ragheb Abdel Aziz*

The present study was conducted to identify the different tick species that infest sheep in some governorates of Egypt (Assiut, Sohag, Qena, and Aswan). As well as detection of the prevalence of tick infestation and a significant potential associated risk factors for infestation, such as; seasonal dynamics, age, sex, locality, breeding system, results revealed that, overall prevalence was (36.57%), and four stick species were identified; Rhipicephalus sanguineus (12.26%), Hyalomma dromedarii (8.35%), Rhipicephalus tauranicus (7.87%), and Amblyomma vareigatum (6.84%), hot season as Summer was a potential significant risk factor for infection (47.86%), younger suckling kids were significantly the highest infection rate (62.76%), and sheep grazed on free range system (45.08%) were significantly higher than housed animals, on the other hand; locality and animals sex had no any significant effect on infestation rate of tick species of sheep.