Cattle tick-borne pathogens sharing the same vectors in Benin and Burkina Faso: variations in prevalence and coinfection patterns

Abstract

Understanding interactions between pathogens at the level of the individual host and the population in West Africa, may have  noteworthy implications for predictions of diseases emergence and disease control programmes. Hence, the current study was aimed at  investigating the interactions between Anaplasma marginale, Babesia bigemina and B. bovis in West African cattle. Twelve sentinel steers  in each of the eight selected herds were randomly chosen to perform a one-year-long survey designed to monthly collect blood  sample and to diagnose possible infections of the steers. This allowed identifying A. marginale as the most prevalent pathogen across the  three surveyed regions (range: 0.60-1), followed by B. bigemina (0.24-0.85) and B. bovis (0.10-0.64); the same ranking order of the  tick-borne pathogens was observed when considering the apparent duration of cattle infection. Regarding interaction patterns, mainly  avoidance was revealed between A. marginale and B. bigemina and between B. bigemina and B. bovis. Such negative interaction seemed  to be beneficial to the West African cattle surveyed, helping them to escape from babesiosis caused by B. bovis. Altogether, studied Boophilus tick-borne pathogens negatively interact within cattle in Benin and Burkina Faso. This pattern raises new questions regarding  the underlying mechanisms and potential consequences.