Distribution characteristics and influencing factors of Haemaphysalis longicornis around goat sheds in Jinan city, East China

As one of the most important disease vectors worldwide, ticks can transmit a number of pathogenic organisms to humans and domestic animals and cause a variety of important natural focal diseases and zoonoses. Domestic livestock play a vital role in the dispersal of ticks from the field environment to the human settlement, contributing to the prevalence of tick-borne diseases. Identification of the tick control region could contribute a vital role in strategic planning and cost-effective tick control measures. However, little is known about the spatial distribution characteristics of ticks around livestock sheds, which will lead to abusage and overuse of insecticides. Therefore, this study aimed to explore spatial distribution characteristics and correlation factors of ticks around goat sheds. A total of 3898 ticks were collected from eight goat sheds from April to June in Jinan city. All the sampled ticks belonged to the same species, namely Haemaphysalis longicornis, and 88.8% of them were nymphs. A significant positive correlation was noted between free-living ticks and parasitic ticks (r = 0.411, P < 0.001). However, there was a significant negative correlation between number of free-living ticks and distance from the goat sheds (r = -0.622, P < 0.001). Within 20 m from the goat sheds, 2211 ticks were collected respectively, representing 56.7% of the total free-living ticks. At a distance of 30 m, 57.6% decline in the tick density was found with a significant difference (q = 5.534, P < 0.001). In conclusion, focusing control efforts near the goat sheds should be recommend for tick prevention and control.