Vet World Vol.17 August-2024 Article - 13
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(8): 1765-1777
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1765-1777
Vector abundance and associated abiotic factors that influence the distribution of ticks in six provinces of South Africa
2. Department of Agriculture and Animal Health, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Private Bag X6, Florida 1710, South Africa.
3. Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK.
Background and Aim: Climatic conditions significantly impact the life stages and distribution patterns of ticks and tick-borne diseases. South Africa’s central plateau and various biomes offer a distinct landscape for studying the geography’s effects. The study estimated tick species prevalence and the influential factors on their survival.
Materials and Methods: Ticks were gathered from communal cattle in South African provinces including Limpopo (LP), Gauteng (GP), Mpumalanga (MP), KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the Eastern Cape (EC), and the Free State (FS), from September 2020 to November 2022. Using data from South African weathercasts, the annual climate was assessed.
Results: A total of 3,409 ticks were collected, with the highest infestation observed in KZN (45%), followed by LP (26%), EC (19%), GP (5%), MP (2%), and the FS (2%). The most prevalent tick species were Amblyomma hebraeum (55.1%), Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi (13.9%) and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus), and decoloratus (11.9%). Other species included R. (Boophilus) microplus (10.85%), Hyalomma marginatum (4.8%), Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (1.4%), Harpalus rufipes (0.8%), Rhipicephalus exophthalmos (0.2%), Rhipicephalus glabroscutatus (0.2%), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (0.2%), Haemaphysalis silacea (0.5%), Ixodes pilosus (0.1%), and Rhipicephalus simus (0.1%). The infestations were most prevalent on farms in Pongola and KZN. The temperature fluctuated between 12°C and 35°C during data gathering, while humidity varied between 40% and 65%.
Conclusion: This study showed that ticks survive optimally in warm temperatures and high humidity conditions. Livestock farms with high tick infestations may be associated with several risk factors. These practices could involve suboptimal grazing, insufficient acaricidal treatment, and detrimental effects resulting from traditional animal husbandry. Future research is needed to longitudinally evaluate the effects of climate change on tick populations, pathogen transmission, hosts, habitats, and human behavior, influencing potential exposure risks.
Keywords: abiotic factors, cattle infestations, climatic conditions, South Africa, ticks, vector abundance.
How to cite this article: Makwarela TG, Djikeng A, Masebe TM, Nkululeko N, Nesengani LT, and Mapholi NO (2024) Vector abundance and associated abiotic factors that influence the distribution of ticks in six provinces of South Africa, Veterinary World, 17(8): 1765-1777.
Received: 2024-02-21 Accepted: 2024-07-18 Published online: 2024-08-13
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1765-1777
Copyright: Makwarela, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
