A review of some tick-borne pathogens of dogs

Ticks and tick-borne diseases have great economic and medical importance worldwide and they affect both animal and human health by sucking blood and also transmitting protozoan, bacterial, rickettsial, spirochetal and viral agents. Ticks can live in all regions of the world except Polar Regions. Tick-borne encephalitis Virus, Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichiosis, and Hepatozoonosis are important tick-borne diseases of dogs and they influence a great variety of other domestic and wild animals. Ticks are ectoparasites of mammals, birds and reptiles specializing as obligate blood sucking permanent ectoparasitic arthropods. As vector of important haemoparasitic disease, tick surpasses all other arthropods, apart from mosquitoes as diseases agents of humans and lead to poor performance of the animals. One or more of the approximately 840 known species of ticks are found in most terrestrial regions of the earth. Two major families of ticks are ixodidae (hard bodies ticks) and argasidae (soft bodies ticks), with ixodidae being the largest and most important family. These vectors such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Ixodes ricinus which are endemic in Nigeria, have affected the performance of dogs which are major human companions through their activities such as blood sucking, disease transmission, biting effect and causing listlessness through itching and scratching. The important pathogens dealt with in this study, include tick-borne encephalitis virus, Ehrlicia canis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Hepatozoon canis and Babesia canis. This review aims at to create better awareness on ticks and tick-borne pathogens of dogs providing latest knowledge on prevention and control of this menace.