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Tick-borne Diseases in Sheep and Goats in Pakistan: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

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Abstract

Background

Ticks are blood-sucking ectoparasites and transmit various types of protozoal, bacterial, and viral diseases in a wild as well as domestic animals and humans globally. Only a few  published reports are avaliable on the prevalence of tick-borne diseases in sheep and goats in Pakistan.

Aim and objective

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the prevalence (2000–2020) of tick-borne disease (theileriosis, babesiosis, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever infection, and anaplasmosis) in sheep and goats in Pakistan.

Methods

A systematic review of articles published in English language (since 2000–2020) was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar. Diagnostic methods used in the original reference articles were PCR, PCR-RLB, microscopy, and ELISA.

Results

The overall prevalence of theileriosis, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) infections was 15.40%, 21.18%, 26.78%, and 11.62%, respectively. The prevalence of anaplasmosis was 22.06% (90/408) in sheep, 21.11% (76/360) in goats, and 40% (120/300) in both sheep and goats with substantial differences (P < 0.001). The prevalence of babesiosis among sheep was 29.88% (104/348) with highly significant differences (P < 0.001), in goats was 29.88% (25/60) with slightly significant differences (P < 0.031%), and in both sheep and goats were 7% (21/300) with highly significant differences (P < 0.001) according to subgroup analysis. The percentage of prevalence of theileriosis was 17.70% (207/1169) in sheep with highly substantial differences (P < 0.001), 4.51% (31/687) in goats with significant differences (P < 0.133), and 25% (125/500) in both sheep and goats with a significant difference among them (P < 0.001). The prevalence of CCHF among sheep was 18.63% (149/800) and 4.63% (37/800) in goats, respectively. The widely used detection method was microscopy (45.56%) followed by ELISA (38.38%), PCR (12.56%), and PCR-RLB (3.48%) test, respectively. This is a comprehensive report on the status of tick-borne disease in sheep and goats in Pakistan.

Conclusion

Based on our results, among tick-borne diseases anaplasmosis had the highest prevalence rate in sheep and goats. Due to its high prevalence, control measures should be taken to diagnose and prevent it.

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All the relevant data are available in the manuscript.

Notes

  1. Where x is the number of positive case and n is the total number of examined cases.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge all researchers and their publications were used in our review for hard work on tick-borne diseases in Pakistan.

Funding

None to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious Diseases Division, Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Aqsa Mushtaq, Tehniat Shoukat, Tanzila Mumtaz, Kiran Ajmal, Nayab Fatima, Aisha Khan, Misbah Kouser, Nazeer Hussain, Sadia Selim Khan & Haroon Ahmed

  2. Department of Economics, Finance and Statistics, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

    Muhammad Qasim

  3. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Firat, 23119, Elazig, Turkey

    Sami Simsek

  4. Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, Pakistan

    Mohammed Sohail Afzal

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  1. Aqsa Mushtaq
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Contributions

HA designed the study. AM and TS designed the study protocols. NF, AK and MK searched the databases for related literature. KA, NH and SSK extracted the desired information. MQ did the statistical analyses. TM wrote the introduction and discussion with MSA. SS and HA critically revised and improved the technical quality of the manuscript. All the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Haroon Ahmed.

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Mushtaq, A., Shoukat, T., Mumtaz, T. et al. Tick-borne Diseases in Sheep and Goats in Pakistan: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Acta Parasit. 66, 1316–1325 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-021-00396-2

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