[ survey on fauna of ixodid ticks and their enterobacteriaceae infection in livestock in Amol city in north of Iran]

ABSTRACT

Ticks are one of the important external parasites in livestock that can transmit viral, ricketsia and bacterial agents. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of contamination of the livestock by ixodid ticks and harboring of enterobacteriaceae by the ticks in Amol City. In this descriptive study, we collected the livestock's ticks [cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats] and after fauna identification, they were sent for culture. In this study, 650 ticks were collected which belonged to 8 species. Hyalomma asiaticum asiaticum was the most and Rhipicephalus bursa was the least prevalent species. Cattles and buffaloes had the highest tick infestation [38.5%]. The bacteriological results showed that the ticks were infected by 13 bacterial species such as Ecoli, Klebsiella, Salmonella, Proteus, Serratia, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermis. The most and the least prevalent species were Ecoli and Serratia respectively. Considering the high prevalence of ixodid ticks in our study and presence of bacterial infection in hard ticks, appropriate training for stock breeders for improvement of their knowledge of the health problems, stock breeding and common methods of zoonotic disease prevention such as spraying and anti-tick bath, is recommended