Veterinary Archives, Vol. 76 No. 5, 2006.
Original scientific paper
Prevalence and ectoparasites fauna of sheep and goats flocks in Urmia suburb, Iran
Mohammad Yakhchali
Ali Hosseine
Abstract
An investigation into ectoparasites of sheep and goats was carried out in the northwest region of Iran. One
thousand two hundred goats and 1200 sheep in 14 flocks which were less than eight years old were subjected
to examination in three sub-divided areas from April 2003 to March 2004. Ectoparasites (ticks, mites, lice, and
fleas) were collected from 77 sheep (6.4%) and 119 goats (9.9%), with an overall prevalence of 8.2%. Ticks were
the most frequent ectoparasites. Adult ticks (849) were collected and identified: the highest number belonged
to the Rhipicephalus bursa (90.7% of sheep and 88.8% of goats), followed by R. sanguineus (6.9%), Boophilus
annulatus (2.4%), plus Ornithodoros lahorensis (2.6%). All goats were infested with two species, including R.
bursa (88.8%) and R. sanguineus (11.4%). Ixodid tick distributions per animal were 2.5 for sheep and 4.3 for goats.
Fifty-two sheep (67.5%) and 85 goats (71.4%) were infested with three species of lice. These were Damalina
ovis (58.8%) and D. caprae (71.4%), Haematopinus species (on sheep 76.6%, and on goats 62.2%), Linognathus
stenopsis (36.1%), L. ovillus (29.4%). The seasons of highest infestation were fall and winter (50%), the least
being spring and summer. Of these, two sheep (2.6%) were infested by Sarcoptes scabiei, maximum infestation
occurring in winter. Ctenocephalides felis felis comprised of all the fleas collected (16.8% of goats, and 13% of
sheep). Flea infestation was more widespread in fall and winter (10.2%) than in spring and summer (6.1%).
Keywords
prevalence; ectoparasites; sheep; goat; Iran
Hrčak ID:
5152
URI
Publication date:
20.10.2006.
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