Cattle farmers' perception of the nuisances caused by insects and ticks to cattle in the Canton Jura | Perception par les éleveurs des nuisances causées par les insectes et les tiques aux bovins dans le Canton du Jura
2008
Lovis, L., Universitaet Bern, Bern (Switzerland). Abteilung Tierhaltung und Tierschutz | Frutschi Mascher, V. | Gern, L. | Betschart, B. | Zinsstag, J.
During summer 2005, a survey of 172 farmers from the Canton Jura was carried out to determine their perception of the nuisances caused by insects and ticks to cattle. The presence of ticks was significantly more often spontaneously mentioned by farmers in the Clos-du-Doubs and in the district of Delémont (95% and 72%, respectively) than in Ajoie and in the Franches-Montagnes (29% and 19%, respectively, p [less than] 0.0001). 20% of the farmers perceived the tick populations to be increasing. The following diseases were spontaneously listed: keratoconjunctivitis (59%), mastitis related to flies (31%), hypodermosis (15%), ehrlichiosis (12%) and babesiosis (10%). Suspicion of ehrlichiosis was significantly more often mentioned in the district of Delémont than in the rest of the canton (p [less than] 0.001) which was associated with the presence of ticks observed by farmers (p [less than] 0.001). Cases of clinical babesiosis, which is common in the Clos-du-Doubs, were mentioned by farmers outside this area: Delémont (3/57) and Ajoie (1/26). In this study babesiosis depends on the production area, on the presence of ticks observed by farmers and on the presence of water in the pasture (p [less than] 0.05). This study shows that cattle farmers are well aware of the presence of the diseases linked to insects and ticks and that the perception of their distribution is in accordance with the epidemiological data. An overview of the epidemiology of tick- and insect-related diseases can therefore be established by surveying farmers' perception, but should then be confirmed by a biomedical study. Due to their accurate observations, farmers are key participants at the first level of surveillance systems of animal diseases.
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