Abstract
Tick infestations in cattle and sheep pose serious health problems when agents of diseases are transmitted. In addition, blood feeding of ticks induces enormous economic losses due to reduced weight gain of infested animals. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of exposure to hairs clipped from cattle and sheep treated with flumethrin (Bayticol®) on European ticks. The dose used was 10 ml/100 kg body weight for both animal species. At intervals of 7 days (days 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35), hairs were cut off from treated and untreated animals along the backline and from the feet just above the claws. These hairs were mingled with stages of the tick species Ixodes ricinus, Dermacentor reticulatus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus. It was found that in the cases of I. ricinus and D. reticulatus, all specimens died within 5–12 h when coming into contact with cattle hair from the feet or back of animals treated 3 weeks ago and within 6 to 9 h after contact to sheep hair from back or feet. After 4 weeks, the specimens of both tick species that had contact with hair of treated sheep and cattle, independent from the origin backline or feet, were dead after 8 h except for one tick that had contact to hair from feet of cattle. It remained fully motile after a 12-h contact even for the observation time on another 5 days. When having contact to hair of animals treated 5 weeks before, several specimens of Ixodes and Dermacentor survived an exposition of 12 h. There were more survivors in the case of ticks tested on hair of the feet than in the case of contacts with hair of the backline. The exposure of R. sanguineus to hair obtained from animals treated 2 weeks earlier resulted in death in 2–4 h. However, most R. sanguineus ticks when coming in contact with treated hairs (collected from animals treated 3, 4 or 5 weeks earlier) from back or feet survived for atleast 5 days even after exposure for 12 h. These experiments confirmed the positive protection results obtained in former studies with typical cattle ticks in the tropics and/or subtropics. In addition to the killing effects described above, it was noted that flumethrin had a significant repellent effect. If ticks were mingled with treated hair, they tried to flee away and did not seek shelter inside the hair as the controls did in untreated hair.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aspöck H (2010) (ed) Sick through arthropods (in German). Denisia 30, Salzburg, 898 pp
Eckert J, Friedhoff KT, Zahner H, Deplazes P (2008) Lehrbuch der Parasitologie für die Tiermedizin. Enke, Stuttgart
El-Azazy OME, Lucas SF (1996) The sterilizing effect of pour-on flumethrin on the camel tick, Hyalomma dromedarii ( Acari: Ixodidae). Vet Parasitol 61:331–343
Hamel HD, Estevens W, Hees B, Pulpa M, Roesger W (1982) Field trials with Bayticol® against Boophilus microplus in Brazil. Vet Med Rev 2:140–146
Johnston LAY, Haydock KP (1969) The effect of cattle tick (Boophilus microplus) on production of Brahman-cross and British -breed cattle in Northern Australia. Aust.Vet.J. 45:175
Johnston LAY, Haydock KP ( 1971) The effect of cattle tick (Boophilus microplus) on pregnant and lactating Brahman-cross and British-breed cows in northern Australia. Aust.Vet.J. 47: 295–299
Jonsson NN, Mayer DG, Matschoss AL, Green PE, Ansell J (1998) Production effects of cattle tick (Boophilus microplus) infestation on cattle, with particular reference to Bos indicus cattle and their crosses. Vet Parasitol 137:1–10
Jonsson NN, Davis R, DeWitt M (2001) An estimate of the economic effects of cattle tick (Boophilus microplus) infestation on Queensland dairy farms. Aust Vet J 79:826–831
Mehlhorn H (ed) (2008) Encyclopedia of parasitology, 2 volumes, 3rd ed. Springer, New York
Mehlhorn B, Mehlhorn H (2009) Zecken auf dem Vormarsch (Ticks in progress). Düsseldorf University Press, Düsseldorf
Mehlhorn H, Düwel D, Raether W (1993) Diagnosis and therapy of parasitoses of animals, 2nd edn. G. Fischer, Stuttgart
Mehlhorn H, Eichenlaub D, Löscher T, Peters W (1995) Diagnosis and therapy of parasitoses of humans, 2nd edn. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart
Mehlhorn H, Schumacher B, Jatzlau A, Abdel-Ghaffar F, Al-Rasheid KAS, Klimpel S, Pohle H (2011) Efficacy of deltamethrin (Butox® 7.5 pour-on) against nymphs and adults of ticks (Ixodes ricinus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus) in treated hair of cattle and sheep. Parasitol Res 108:963–971
Norval RAI, Sutherst RW, Jorgensen OG, Gibson JD, Kerr JD (1989) The effect of the bont tick Ambylomma hebraeum on the weight gain of African steers. Vet Parasitol 33:329–341
Schnitzerling HJ, Nolan J, Huges S (1983) Toxicology and metabolism of some synthetic pyrethroids in larvae of susceptible and resistant strains of the cattle tick Boophilus microplus. Pesticide Sci 14:64–72
Scholtz MM, Spickett AM, Lombard PE, Enslin CB (1991) The effect of tick infestation on the productivity of cows of three breeds of cattle. Onderstepoort J Vet Res 58:71–74
Seifert GW (1971a) Ecto and endoparasitic effects on the growth rates of Zebu crossbred and British cattle in the field. Aust J Agric Res 22:839–850
Sonenshine WT (1991, 1992) Ticks, vol 1, 2. Academic Press, London
Stendel W (1985) Experimental studies on the tickicidal effect of Bayticol® pour-on. Vet Med Rev 2:99–111
Williams RE, Hair JA, McNew RW (1978) Effects of Gulf Coast ticks on blood composition and weight of pastured Hererford steers. J Parasitol 64:336–342
Acknowledgement
Hereby, we acknowledge gratefully the support of the Center of Excellence of the College of Science of the King Saud University at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mehlhorn, H., Schumacher, B., Jatzlau, A. et al. The effects of flumethrin (Bayticol® pour-on) on European ticks exposed to treated hairs of cattle and sheep. Parasitol Res 110, 2181–2186 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2745-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2745-1