Tick-borne pathogens and body condition of cattle in smallholder rural livestock production systems in East and West Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The majority of the African population lives in rural areas where they heavily depend on crop and livestock production for their livelihoods. Given their socio-economic importance, we initiated a standardized multi-country (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia Tanzania and Uganda) surveillance study to assess the current status of important tick-borne haemoparasites (TBHPs) of cattle.

Methods

We assessed pathogen prevalences (Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma centrale, Babesia bigemina, Babesia bovis, Ehrlichia ruminantium, and Theileria parva) in the blood of 6447 animals spread over fourteen districts (two districts per country). In addition, we screened for intrinsic (sex, weight, body condition) and extrinsic (husbandry, tick exposure) risk factors as pr

SUBMITTER: Heylen DJA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10064580 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature