Tick fever - technical information for veterinarians

Summary

Cattle ticks and tick fever are both notifiable in NSW under the NSW Biosecurity Regulation 2017 and surveillance along the NSW and Queensland border is aimed at preventing entry of cattle tick into NSW from the tick infested area of SE Queensland.

Strategies such as chemical tick control, resistant cattle genotypes, regional eradication programs for ticks and tick fever, and grazing management are all employed to control cattle tick and tick fever.

The topics in this Primefact include:

• What is tick fever?
• Occurrence in Australia
• Epidemiology of tick fever
• Clinical signs of tick fever in cattle
• Notification
• Gross pathology
• Sampling for laboratory testing
• Risk assessment
• Cattle tick eradication
• Treatment of stock
• Vaccination