Ticks of Domestic Animals in Africa - Alan R Walker - Science Writer

Preface.
The need for this guide became apparent to the authors
during their work as researchers and teachers
on the biology and control of ticks and tick borne
diseases. All of us have struggled with the usual identification
keys for ticks to gain our knowledge as specialists.
We have witnessed the difficulties that nonspecialists
encounter when they attempt to identify
ticks. The need to identify ticks of domestic animals
using morphological, field and clinical characteristics
increases through the demand for improved control
measures, veterinary interventions, development
projects and field research on tick ecology. Despite
the recent application of molecular techniques to the
identification of ticks there is unlikely to be, in the
near future, a comprehensive and simple system for
these techniques to be used for general diagnostic
purposes. Furthermore to develop such a system the
need will remain for collections of ticks reliably identified
by morphological characters.
Thus we aim to provide a simple, easily available
means of identifying ticks using the equipment likely
to found in diagnostic laboratories and using the existing
skills of non-specialist personnel.
The ticks that are important to the health of domestic
animals in Africa comprise approximately 40 species,
plus other very similar species with which they
may be confused but which are of unknown importance.
Some of these ticks are also a threat to human
health, but in Africa it is domestic animals that are
severely affected by ticks and the pathogens they
transmit. The diseases associated with ticks cause
much suffering to animals and economic loss to their
owners. They continue to be a major impediment to
the improvement of livestock industry in Africa, and
this continent is particularly affected because of the
large number of tick species and variety of diseases
caused.
We hope that this guide will encourage greater diagnostic
skills and thereby contribute to the improvement
of animal health in Africa.
Comments and suggestions for a revised edition are
welcome. Please contact the publisher or individual
authors.
iv
Alan Walker is a Senior Lecturer in Parasitology at
the Division of Clinical Sciences, Royal (Dick) School
of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Roslin
EH25 9RG, United Kingdom.
Ali Bouattour is Head of the Unit of Medical Entomology,
Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Place Pasteur, BP
74, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia.
Jean-Louis Camicas is Head of the Laboratory of
Medical Acarology, Centre I.R.D., Montpelier,
France.
Agustin Estrada-Peña is Professor of Parasitology
at the Veterinary Faculty, University of Zaragoza,
Spain.
Ivan Horak is an Emeritus Professor at the Department
of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary
Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort
0110, Republic of South Africa.
Abdalla Latif is Head of Parasitology at the
Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Private Bag X05,
Onderstepoort 0110, Republic of South Africa.
Rupert Pegram is Director of the Caribbean Amblyomma
Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation,
P.O.Box 1282, St Johns, Antigua.
Patricia Preston is a Senior Lecturer in Parasitology
at the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population
Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United
Kingdom.
All artwork has been prepared by the authors: line
art - A.R.W., maps - A.E-P., photographs - A.A.L.,
A.B. & A.R.W.