Frequency of Ixodid ticks infesting sheep and goats in Qaen County, Iran

Hard ticks are blood-feeding ectoparasites that are of great medical and health importance. This survey was carried out to determine the frequency of hard ticks infesting sheep and goats in Qaen County located in eastern Iran, South Khorasan Province. This survey started in November 2018 and continued for one year. In this study, 11 geographical locations were selected from the study area and 10 sheep and 10 goats from each location were randomly selected and examined for tick infestation each month. The ticks were collected from different infested organs and preserved in ethanol 70% until transferred to the parasitology laboratory for identification to species level. From a total of 1320 sheep and 1320 goats examined, 49.6% sheep and 32.3% goats were found to be infested. Overall, 2004 ticks were collected from infested animals and based on their frequency were identified as: Hyalomma asiaticum (39.6%), Hyalomma rufipes (33.7%), Hyalomma marginatum (9.7%), Rhipicephalus toranicus (6.4%), Dermacentor raskemensis (6.1%), Hyalomma excuvatum (3.5%) Hyalomma anatolicum (0.9%), and Haemaphysalis sulcata (0.1%). The most frequency of ticks were observed in spring and the highest number of ticks were collected in May. Tail was the most frequent and important site for tick attachment. The results of this study showed the prevalence and frequency of tick infestation in the study area is relatively high and tick control measures should be taken especially in spring and summer.