Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Ticks are non-permanent obligate parasites that have considerable medical-veterinary and zoonosis importance. In this regard a study designed to investigate the distribution and fauna of ticks in the Alashtar county in Iran from April and March 2014. METHODS: Ticks were collected from livestock farms and facilities from selected rural and geographically location in the Alashtar county. Based morphological characteristics and reference identification keys, ticks were identified. RESULTS: A total of 549 ticks including 411 hard and 138 soft ticks were found. Ten tick species including Haemaphysalis concinna (0.36%), Haemaphysalis sulcata (0.36%), Hyalomma anatolicum (0.18%), Hyalomma dromedarii (0.18%), Hyalomma marginatum (1.45 %), Hyalomma schulzei (0.36%), Rhipicephalus annulatus (0.18%), Rhipicephalus bursa (28.1%), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (43.63%) and Argas persicus (25.2%) were identified. Tick seasonal distribution were 47.26%, 22.63%, 14.96% and 15.15% in the spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. The tick distribution was more from plain areas (64.96%) than the mountainous areas (35.04%). The rates of the tick contamination were 97.3% and 2.7% in the traditional and industrial livestock's, respectively. The livestock contamination ranks to the hard ticks were cattle (39.51%), sheep (34.15%) and goats (26.34 %), respectively. Chi-square analysis showed a significant difference among the seasonal distribution of the ticks in the spring, summer and autumn or winter; between the tick distribution in the plain and mountainous areas; and between the traditional and industrial livestock's tick contamination (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Present study proves to change the traditional livestock's to the industrial livestock's. These findings highlight the importance of ticks and shows need to their control and tick pest management.