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October 15, 2021
QCL Battle Against Tick Resistance
QCL Leads Battle Against Tick Resistance To Acaricides In Uganda
Approximately 80% of cattle around the world, mostly in the tropics and sub-tropics, are exposed to cattle ticks. This puts the global cost of tick-borne diseases and associated acaricide application to an estimate of over £4 billion annually. Uganda is among the countries whose farmers continue to wallow in the grim effects of cattle ticks. Effects like anemia, reduced rate of growth, death and transmission of several other tick-borne diseases always deal a huge blow to the income and livelihoods of farmers that depend on cattle for welfare.
Worse still, is the fact that from around 2010 -2015, preventative measures executed through frequent treatment of cattle with acaricides (chemicals used on livestock and pets for purposes of killing mainly ticks, but also lice, fleas, insects and nuisance flies) were rendered impotent as ticks became increasingly resistant. Expert studies show that the administration of acaricide combinations such as Amidines (Amitraz), pyrethroids, organophosphates were no longer as effective because of tick resistance.
A cow suffering from a tick attack under its ears
Tick resistance to acaricides is usually first recognized as a failure of the acaricide to eliminate ticks from cattle or other livestock on which it is applied. Although the failure of treatment is often the result of incorrect preparation or application of acaricide, the persistence of ticks after frequent, correctly applied treatments indicates that acaricide resistance is likely. Indeed, in Uganda there were reports of massive misuse of acaricide which could have accelerated the development of tick resistance. Some of the errant practices commonly noted include;
- Not following the manufacturer manuals in the dilution of acaricide (over dilution and under dilution are both equally detrimental for the long-term usage of any given acaricide).
- Lack of infrastructure for cattle restraint for proper application. The common practice of spraying animals in kraals, in yards, from a high vantage point like an anthill, with animals rounded up in hedges are implicated.
- Improper equipment. Acaricides must be applied with the rightful high-pressure pumps and not with brooms, brushes or even knapsack sprayers meant for application of pesticides onto plants.
- The water measuring methods are also questionable. Water for dilution of the acaricide concentrate solutions are measured in often times disfigured jerry cans and basins which do not offer accurate measurements.
- Dip tanks are poorly managed. The process of dip was sampling, analysis and interpretation of results was noted to be too time consuming, expensive (especially transportation of samples) and cumbersome. This led to dips getting abandoned completely or managed in a poor manner.
QCL Intervention Against Tick Resistance To Acaricides
As a company that has since 1997, played a pivotal role in the veterinary pharmaceuticals, equipment and vaccines sector, we (QCL) took it upon ourselves to be the channel of solution to all the Animal Health related problems. This was reinforced when upon the privatization of the pharmaceuticals and vaccine sector by government, QCL introduced a number of acaricide options for the sector, notably the Pyrethroid Tsetsetick Dip/Spray, Ecotik (Amitraz) 12.5% EC mention but a few.
Ecotik-Amitraz distributed by QCL.
QCL have also led the fight to rationalize T & TBD control through assisting regulatory bodies to enforce measures that include, but are not limited to:
- Providing training for farmers and extension workers on appropriate/proper methods of using acaricides whether individually or sequentially.
- Targeting control strategies to the production systems and cattle populations at high risk of tick-borne diseases.
- Providing back-up services to farmers e.g., calibration of dips and charging, collecting dip wash samples for testing.
- Decentralizing hack-up services like dip wash analysis and acaricide resistance testing.
- Adhering to the regulatory guidelines on mechanisms on importation and distribution of acaricides.
- Sensitization of all stakeholders especially in the affected areas (the cattle corridor).
- The use of sensitization materials in terms of charts, brochures, visual aids on acaricide use. These in circulation form the basis of the on-farm acaricide rotation on which the proposed zoning policy will build.
Tick resistance is a growing concern across the globe. It is however manageable using a combination of the methods enumerated above. Uganda can also succeed in protecting her herds by adopting these and other methods still under research. For more information like this, email qcl@quality-chemicals.co.ug.
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