Vol. 3, Issue 3, Part A (2018)

Author(s): Adil EA Bala, Adam D Abakar, Mohammed S Mohammed, Faisal M Ibrahim and Sidig Eisa

Abstract: Towards understanding Sudan tick-borne diseases, a survey was carried out to investigate the prevalence of hard tick species (Acari: Ixodidae) on equine (donkeys mainly) in the White Nile state, Sudan. It is important to know, as a first step, what types of ticks could affect such animals in such geographical region. A total of 907 ticks collected from 520 donkeys and 4 horses from four cities in White Nile state, during November 2014 to October 2015). The prevalence by location, seasonal and animal breed, sex and age were evaluated. The species composition and prevalence of tick species feeding on donkeys in descending order were as follows: R. (B.) decoloratus, R. evertsi evertsi, R. camicasi, R. guilhoni, A. lepidum, Hy excavatum, Hy impeltatum, Hy. anatolicum, Hy rufipes, Hy dromadarii. On horses, only R. guilhoni was not within the collected species. Additionally, same aforementioned equine species' blood samples were collected and determined for the prevalence of tick-borne diseases. The blood smears (524) were examined using Giemsa-stain method. Out of 520 donkeys, 158 samples (30.2%) were positive for Babesia species however, no positives in the 4 horses' samples. The effect of location and season was observed during this study and discussed accordingly. Such results could enlighten the importance of initiating a national program to precisely investigating such animal diseases, successfully monitor and properly manage such diseases vectors.