Dog owners must have heard a lot about ticks because it is something that affects dogs a lot, but tick fever in cattle may sound rather strange to a few people. I feel like cattle are more major carriers of ticks than our domestic animals, but I may be wrong because I have no authentic proof for this statement.
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Cattle fever ticks are known scientifically as Rhipicephalus (R.) and R.microplus, they are very dangerous cattle ectoparasites that could serve as vectors for major diseases. The presence of cattle fever ticks could carry and spread protozoa, or microscopic parasites.
When a cattle is heavily infested, ticks would easily be found on different parts of their body, but in the case of light infection, the tail butt, escutcheon, ears, dewlap, and shoulder are places to look out for.
If Anaplasma is the causative agent, the cattle can become jaundiced and constipated. If Babesia, on the other hand, was the causative factor, the disease can progress to the 'red water' stage, where the urine gets stained red by hemoglobin from broken-down red blood cells.
The clinical signs of cattle fever come in the form of; high fever, visible tricks, acute anemia, enlarged spleen and liver, and sudden death. These ticks are often normal until they consume blood from infected animals when these ticks reproduce, babesia organisms will pass on to the tick larvae.
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This fever ticks larvae will further pass babesia to the animals to which they attach and feed. The animals infested serve as vectors in the journey of the potential spread of cattle fever ticks to other surrounding animals and the environment included.
Cattle fever ticks do not attach themselves to cattle alone, they can attach to a variety of other species too including, horses, cattle, white-tailed deer, exotic hoofstock like nilgai antelope, and red deer.
The cattle ticks we are talking about are single host ticks that pass through three stages of life while on one animal, the larva, nymph, and adult stage. A female fever tick will remain on a single animal all through their lifetime, and after they get fully engrossed, they will drop off the animal and lay up to 4,000 eggs on the ground. The laid eggs will then hatch into larvae which would further attach to animals that are walking by, therefore continuing their life cycle.
Mixing infected animals with uninfected ones would contaminate them, separating infected animals from the new ones coming into the farm until they are confirmed to be free of the disease is important. Reporting unusual suspicions is a good way to prevent fever ticks from spreading amongst animals.
Age is a strong factor in the determination of resistance in animals, most outbreaks happen within 18-36 months of age. Calves that get exposed to tick fever organisms between 3-9 months of age would not show any form of clinical signs, and they usually develop a solid, long-lasting immunity.
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A cattle that is born and raised in a region where cattle ticks are prevalent can develop a form of natural immunity through exposure to ticks that are infected with tick fever.
An outbreak of tick fever in cattle can lead to a great loss, and quick actions need to be taken to control the disease. There are steps to quickly control the spread of tick fever in cattle before it spreads.
The first thing to do is to confirm a diagnosis, as getting the right diagnosis is crucial for treating the affected animal and also managing the spread of the outbreak.
A sick cattle can be treated with an appropriate drug as soon as it has been identified. If treatment is not carried out instantly, the sick animal may not recover.
Use a tickicide to take out all the ticks from animals, this will help prevent secondary outbreaks caused by future generations of ticks. Vaccinate all animals as well as soon as possible.
References
usda.gov/sites/default/files/cattle
qld.gov.au/industries/farms-tick-fever
I love the idea of the tickicide and I must say it will go a long way to settle the issue. My fear is hope it will not have side effect for the health of the animal or what do you actually think?
I haven't read about the side effects anywhere before, I don't think there are, any side effects for now.
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