Acaricide failure has been on the rise in Uganda’s western and central cattle corridor.
“How Can we entirely control Ticks as we continue our campaign on acaricide resistance and how to eliminate ticks, which ticks we learned in the previous blog( Sensitizing our farmers about Ticks ( Bukoola vet series).
Today, ” I come (Dr. Murungi Victor Roy) to talk about the types of Acaracide before we can concentrate on the classes of acaricides, Let me first dive into the commonly asked question by Our farmers who usually say “Edagala Telikola ” in Luganda which means that the acaricide or medicine doesn’t work. I typically pause a question to them, Is the medicine or acaricide not working or we are using something different? Most times we find that the products work but our farmers are not enlightened enough to understand how to use them, what to use, and when to use what thus ending up in scenarios like under dosage”
What are the types of acaricides?
- Amitraz
- A-cypermethrin
- Deltamethrin
- Chlorfenvinphos
- Co-formulation
Learn More by watching this Video for the most commonly used acaricides in Uganda Here >>>>
The emergence of multi-acaricide resistant ticks and its implication on chemical tick control
Acaricide
The acaricides referred to are cartap, fenpropathrin, ethion, tetramethrin, δ-endotoxin from Bacillus thuringiensis, isazofos, omethoate, profenofos, triazophos, phorate, quinalphos, temephos, pirimiphos-ethyl, terbufos, chlorfluazuron, sulfotep, monocrotophos, phosphamidon, bromopropylate, phenthoate, propoxur, flucythrinate, diafenthiuron, tralomethrin, benzoximate, allethrin, minoctadine, tetradifon, thiocyclam, and fonofos.
Acaricide failure has been on the rise in the western and central cattle corridor of Uganda. In the previous video( • Sensitizing our Farmers about Ticks ( Bukoola vet series), we identified the tick species, Today we will discuss how these ticks are associated with acaricide failure and determine their susceptibility to various acaricide molecules used for tick control in Uganda Ticks are blood-feeding ectoparasites that have a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Ticks cause economic losses in the form of reduced blood, meat, and dairy products, as well as pathogen transmission. Different acaricides such as organochlorines, organophosphates, formamidines (e.g. amitraz), synthetic pyrethroids, macrocyclic lactones, fipronil, and fluazuron are currently used sequentially or simultaneously to control tick infestations. Most acaricide treatments now face increasingly high chances of failure, due to the resistance selection in different tick populations against these drugs. Acaricide resistance in ticks can be developed in different ways, including amino acid substitutions that result in morphological changes in the acaricide target, metabolic detoxification, and reduced acaricide entry through the outer layer of the tick body.
The current literature brings a plethora of information regarding the use of different acaricides for tick control, resistance selection, analysis of mutations in target sites, and resistance mitigation. Alternatives such as synergistic use of different acaricides, plant-derived phytochemicals, fungi as biological control agents, and anti-tick vaccines have been recommended to avoid and mitigate acaricide resistance.
