ArticleBMC infectious diseases2021
Knowledge, attitudes and practices on African tick bite fever of rural livestock communities living in a livestock-wildlife interface area in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of cattle on vector-borne disease risk to humans: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Pooled it
- Current Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward Ticks and Tick-Borne Zoonoses among Mixed Farming and Pastoral Communities in Gairo and Monduli Districts, Tanzania.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward ticks and tick-borne diseases: a cross-sectional study in Rwanda.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Molecular detection of Ehrlichia ruminantium and Coxiella burnetii among apparently healthy sheep and goats in eastern Tanzania.Tropical animal health and production · 2025Article
- Distribution and Prevalence of Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens at the Wildlife-Livestock Interface in Africa: A Systematic Review.Veterinary sciences · 2025Review
- Rickettsia africae infections in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review of epidemiological studies and summary of case reports.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2024Review
- Describing the experience of livestock producers from Ohio, USA with ticks and associated diseases.One health outlook · 2023Article
- Low genetic diversity and population structuring of Amblyomma hebraeum and Rickettsia africae from coastal and inland regions in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.Medical and veterinary entomology · 2023Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Communal Livestock Farmers regarding Animal Health and Zoonoses in Far Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Parasitology and One Health-Perspectives on Africa and Beyond.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Seroprevalence of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae in extensively managed sheep and goats in Nigeria, West Africa.Tropical animal health and production · 2021Article
- Clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory features ofLe infezioni in medicina · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundAfrican tick bite fever (ATBF) caused by Rickettsia africae and transmitted by Amblyomma spp. ticks is one of the zoonotic tick-borne fevers from the spotted fever group (SFG) of rickettsiae, which is an emerging global health concern. There is paucity of information regarding the occurrence and awareness of the disease in endemic rural livestock farming communities living in livestock-wildlife interface areas in South Africa.
methodsThe purpose of the study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices on ticks and ATBF infection from a community living in livestock-wildlife interface areas in South Africa. A focus group discussion (FGD) was carried out followed by verbal administration of a standardized semi-structured questionnaire a month later to 38 rural livestock farmers (23 from Caquba area and 15 from Lucingweni area where A. hebraeum was absent). An FGD was conducted in Caquba (situated at the livestock-wildlife interface where Amblyomma hebraeum was prevalent on cattle and infected with Rickettsia africae) in the O.R. Tambo district of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
resultsResults from the FGD and questionnaire survey showed that participants from the two rural communities were not aware of ATBF and were not aware that ticks are vectors of the disease. Respondents from Caquba reported of having frequent exposure to tick bites (91.3%, 21/23) specifically from the anthropophilic A. hebrauem which they were able to identify as Qwelagqibe in IsiXhosa (their vernacular). Thirteen out of 15 (86.7%) of respondents from Lucingweni reported that they had never been bitten by ticks, which corresponded with the absence of A. hebraeum from their locality as evidenced from results of a concurrent study on prevalence of ticks on livestock in the area. Both communities confirmed to being "very concerned" of tick bites and we presume this was more related to the localized wounds from the bites than to the diseases transmitted by the ticks.
conclusionsWe recommend future studies encompassing seroprevalence of ATBF in Caquba and other communities at risk in South Africa including establishing surveillance systems to monitor the seasonal infection rates in ticks, cattle and humans.
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