A Survey of Lice Infestation on Cattle Brought to an Abattoir in İstanbul

Authors: Tarek EL-METENAWY, Erkut TÜZER, Kamil GÖKSU

Abstract: This survey was carried out to determine the lice species and their infestation rates on cattle brouht to Küçükçekmece abattoior in ‹stanbul. For this purpose, a total of 1752 cattle were examined during the period from 01 April 1990 to 31 March 1991. Most (1664 heads) of the animals were from Thracia (the European part of Turkey) and some (88 heads) of them from Ramania. It was determined that 27.6% out of 1752 examined cattle were infested with iice. Infestation rate was 51.6% in winter. 29.6% in spring, 7.5% in summer and 27.7% in fall. Only five species were observed on the cattle. These species and their infestation rates were as follows: 23.6% for Damalinia bovis, 2.5% for Solenopotes capillatus, 1.9% for Haematopinus eurysternus, 1,6% for Linognatus vituli and 0.3% for Haematopinus quadripertusis. Heavy infestations due to S. capillatus, H. eurysternus and D. bovis were seen in 0.3%, 0.4% and 6.5% of the examined animals, respectively. During the study, 1 out of 7 water buffaloes was infested with lice, which were H. tuberculatus. In Turkey, H. quadripertusus was firstly seen in this study.

Keywords: Lice, cattle, water buffalo, Prevalence, Turkey