Ayuba Scholastica Onyaweyo, Abdulrahman Itopa Suleiman, Daniel Jennifer, Danladi Silas Goni, Odey Simon Aboyi, Abdullahi Nana-Mariam, Ibrahim Salihu Amoto, Ahmad Abdulrazaq Itopa and Ummulhanni Oyiza Obansa

Ectoparasites are parasites that live externally on their host. Their association with companion animals is known to cause damaging effects such as life-threatening anemia, pruritic and non-pruritic skin disorders to their hosts. The abundance and distribution of ticks and tick-borne diseases have been extensively reported. Herein, we examined tick infestation in dogs around Lafia L.G.A. Nasarawa state. Forceps were used to grip the tick firmly over its scutum and mouthparts as closely to the host skin as possible, and then pull strongly and directly out from the skin. Lice and fleas were collected by brushing through the bases of the hairs with grooming brushes and examine microscopically using a light microscope, identifications were made through Laboratory Identification of Arthropod Ectoparasites by Blaine A. Mathison and Bobbi S. Pritt (2014) ^[18]. A total of 17 dogs breeds and Sex were examined in four veterinary hospitals within Lafia metropolis between May and August 2019 using purposive sampling 14(82.4%) were infested with ticks. Among the four different veterinary clinics that were sampled, clinic A recorded the highest infestation rate (35.7%), followed by clinic C (28.6%) and clinic B (21.4%). Clinic D had the lowest infestation rate with a percentage 14.3%, therefore the result shows that, this was statistically significant across the clinic sampled (X²=10.196, DF=3, p-value=0.01697). Male dogs were more infested than the Females with percentage prevalence of 54.3%. The prevalence of tick infestation in this study was 82.4% with the head region being the most predilection site of attachment of ticks. Rhipicephalus sanguineus was the most common tick infesting dogs. Dogs domiciled in Lafia were observed to be at risk of tick infestation. Continuous prophylactic and biosecurity measures could be strategically used in preventing tick infestation in this tropical region.

Pages: 24-27  |  300 Views  107 Downloads