Identification of ticks, lice And tick-borne bacteria From selected ruminant Farms in peninsular Malaysia

Ticks are obligate haematophagous arachnids that feed on a wide range of hosts, while lice are permanent parasitic insects that infest on a specific host species. In Malaysia, previous studies on ticks and lice were conducted. However, not much was known on these parasites in farm ruminants, particularly their prevalence, distribution, diversity and tick-borne pathogens that may affect both humans and animals. The tick and louse collection were carried out on 28 farms situated in four regions of the Peninsular Malaysian, namely the central, northern, southern, and eastern regions. Our findings revealed that among the farm ruminants, ticks were exclusively infesting cattle whereas lice feed on goats and sheep. The Southern cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus, emerged as the most prevalent species, accounting for 99.06% of all tick specimens collected. Other identified species included the red tick, Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides (0.47%), the bispined cattle tick, Haemaphysalis bispinosa (0.39%), and Wellington's poultry tick, Haemaphysalis wellingtoni (0.08%). For lice, Bovicola caprae was the most prevalent species (90.05%), followed by Linognathus africanus (7.28%), Bovicola ovis (2.49%) and Haematopinus quadripertusus (0.18%). Both Rhipicephalus microplus and Bovicola caprae exhibit extensive geographical distributions across the country, being detected in all four regions and in substantial numbers. Three pools of R. microplus were found to be positive for Borrelia species via PCR, specifically identical to Borrelia theileri, marking the first report of this occurrence in Malaysia. No Rickettsia and Bartonella pathogens were detected in the collected ticks. This study serves as a foundational step toward mitigating the potential impact of ectoparasites on farm animal health and human welfare in Malaysia.