Cattle trading favors the introduction and establishment of the invasive tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus in Menoua Division, West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

Tick infestation is a major public health and veterinary issue that limits animal productivity throughout the world. Uncontrolled cattle movements during trading creates risks for introduction and rapid spread of ticks and tick borne pathogens in-to areas where previously absent. These movements are intense in the Western highlands of Cameroon and promote the circulation of ticks. Thus, the need to assess the abundance and distribution of tick vectors with the aim of establishing a baseline for monitoring future spread of tick borne diseases in the Menoua Division is urgent. A longitudinal study was carried out on 360 cattle selected at the Nkong-Ni municipal slaughterhouse for tick collection. All visible adult ticks were collected on each animal, preserved in 70% ethanol, counted and morphologically identified. The total of 8,492 adult ticks belonged to 14 species grouped into 5 genera. The relative abundance of the 3 most prominent species was Rhipicephalus decoloratus (50.6%), Amblyomma variegatum (25.0%) and Rhipicephalus microplus (7.6%). R. microplus was found on cattle all over the year and could be due to interconnection of herds through trade with an important relative abundance observed from October to January. Out of the 360 cattle examined, 312 (86.66%) were infested. Animals were 6 times more infested in the dry than in the rainy season with a relative risk of infestation greater in November, January and March compared to other months (p