First record of Babesia and Theileria parasites in ticks from Kassena‐Nankana , Ghana

• Published in: Medical and veterinary entomology Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 878 - 882
• Main Authors: Addo, Seth Offei, Bentil, Ronald Essah, Baako, Bernice Olivia Ama, Addae, Charlotte Adwoa, Behene, Eric, Asoala, Victor, Mate, Suzanne, Oduro, Daniel, Dunford, James C., Larbi, John Asiedu, Baidoo, Philip Kweku, Wilson, Michael David, Diclaro, Joseph W., Dadzie, Samuel K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-12-2023
• Subjects: Amblyomma variegatum; Arachnids; Babesia; Babesia occultans; Disease prevention; Environmental risk; Health risks; Hyalomma truncatum; Livestock; Nucleotide sequence; Pathogens; Public health; Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi; Theileria; Theileria ovis; Theileria velifera; Vectors; Vectors (Biology); Ghana
• ISSN: 0269-283X; 1365-2915
• DOI: 10.1111/mve.12688

Ticks are efficient vectors for transmitting pathogens that negatively affect livestock production and pose a risk to public health. In this study,
Babesia
and
Theileria
species were identified in ticks collected from cattle, sheep and goats from the Kassena‐Nankana Districts of Ghana between February and December 2020. A total of 1550 ticks were collected, morphologically identified, pooled and screened for pathogens using primers that amplify a 560 bp fragment of the ssrRNA gene and Sanger sequencing.
Amblyomma variegatum
(62.98%) was the predominant tick species. From the 491 tick pools screened, 12/15 (2.44%) positive pools were successfully sequenced. The pathogen DNA identified were
Theileria ovis
in eight (15.38%) pools of
Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi
,
Theileria velifera
in two (0.78%) pools of
A. variegatum
and
Babesia occultans
and
Babesia
sp. Xinjiang in one (1.72%) pool each of
Hyalomma truncatum
. It was further observed that
T. ovis
occurred in ticks collected from only sheep (
p
 < 0.001) which were females (
p
 = 0.023) and < =1 year old (
p
 = 0.040). This study reports the first identification of these pathogens in ticks within Kassena‐Nankana. With the constant trade of livestock, there is a need for effective tick control measures to prevent infection spread.