Prevalence and hematology of tick borne hemoparasitic diseases in equines in and around Lahore

A total of 395 ticks infected equines (166 horses,115 mules,114 donkeys) were incorporated to study the prevalence and hematology of tick borne hemoparasitic diseases (tbhd) in equines from march 2012 to february 2013 in lahore,pakistan. in horses theileriosis was the most prevalent (38/166; 22.89%) tbhd followed by anaplasmosis (34/166; 20.48%),babesiosis (32/166; 19.28%) and mixed infection (18/166; 10.84%). in mules,babesiosis was the most prevalent (30/115; 26.09%) tbhd followed by mixed infection (25/115; 21.74%),anaplasmosis (15/115; 13.04%) and theileriosis (15/115; 13.04%). in donkeys,the most prevalent tbhd was babesiosis (27/114; 23.68%) followed by anaplasmosis (24/114; 21.05%),theileriosis (21/114; 18.42%) and mixed infection (15/114; 13.16%). statistical analysis revealed the significant difference (p<0.05) among the species of tbhds. all the equines showed that due to tick infestation there was a remarkable increase in tlc values and slightly increased in tec values than the values from the healthy equines while pcv remained in the normal range in horses and mules with a significant association (p<0.05) between them but values slightly increased in donkeys with significant difference in the values. there was an increase in hb values in mules and donkeys but decrease in horses than the values from the healthy equines. according to the statistical analysis there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in hb and tlc values of all equines than the normal values of equines. copyright 2014 zoological society of pakistan.