The prevalence of lice in buffaloes ranged between 0 and 92%. Lice infestation in the buffaloes of Multan (31) was 92%, considerably higher than the 0% prevalence reported in the cattle and buffaloes of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (24). In 2002, 118 buffalo calves were investigated in the Dir District, and 34.75% were found to harbor lice (26). A study in Faisalabad reported in 2006 that about 18% of the buffaloes were infested with lice, higher than the 9.84% reported in Quetta (28, 29). The overall highest prevalence of lice, ticks, and mites recorded during the month of July, 2008 in the sheep, goats, buffaloes, and cows of the Muzaffarabad District, Azad Jammu and Kashmir was 41% (25), while a study from 2016 (16), recorded an overall louse and tick prevalence of 7.5% in the goats, buffaloes, and sheep of Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Table 1).

The range of louse infestation was from 9.58% in the goats of the Toba Tek Singh District (11) to 13.3% in the goats of Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (33).

A louse prevalence of 20% in the sheep of Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was reported in 2008 (33). An overall louse and tick prevalence of 26% was reported in 2016 in the goats, buffaloes, and sheep of Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (16) and an overall prevalence of 41% in sheep, goats, buffaloes, and cows was reported in the Muzaffarabad District, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (25).

The louse prevalence in cattle was in the range of 0–38.3%. A 0% prevalence was reported in Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir in 2015 (24), 5% in DG Khan (32), 23.3% in Punjab (17) and 38.3% and 7.17% was reported in Quetta (9, 29), 24% in Faisalabad (28).

Of the 14 studies on lice, only one reported about horses. A study from 2005 (27) examined 84 horses but found no lice infestation, i.e., a prevalence of 0% (Table 1).

The prevalence of mite infestation in sheep ranged from 6 to 17% in several studies. In Punjab, prevalence was 11.37% (34), 17% (12), and 6% (23). In 2016, overall prevalence (louse and tick) was 26% among sheep, goats and buffaloes from AJK (16). Details are shown in Table 2.

The highest mite prevalence of 11.86% was recorded in buffalo calves in 2002 in the Dir District (26), and the lowest (4.92%) was reported in the buffaloes of Quetta (29).

Of the 16 studies on mites as ectoparasites, only two reported about camels. In 2015, 1,489 camels were examined for a mite infestation, recording an infestation rate of 11.28% from three (North, south and western) parts of Punjab (37). In a study in the Cholistan area, 55.56% of the camels were infested by these ectoparasites (including ticks and lice) (39).

Of the 16 studies on mites, three reported mite prevalence in horses, mules, and donkeys.

Two studies reported a prevalence of 53.33% (35) and 29.76% (27) in the horses of Lahore. A study from 2013 (36) recorded an overall prevalence of 1.5% in the horses, donkeys, and mules of Punjab.

Only two studies reported the prevalence of mite infestations in goats. A study in Toba Tek Singh recorded a prevalence of 3.23% (11), while in a study in Multan, 35.5% of the goats were found to be infested with mites (12).

Of the 16 studies published on mites as ectoparasites of domestic animals in Pakistan, four investigated the prevalence in cattle alone, and one recorded an overall prevalence in several animal species, including cows. The range of mite infestation in these studies was 4–8%. A study from 2008 in Quetta (29) observed that 5.19% of the cows were infested with mites. Three studies on cattle in Punjab reported prevalence rates of 5% (32), 4% (30), and 4.34% (17).

The prevalence of tick infestation in cows ranged between 10.14 and 89.9%. Ten studies in Punjab reported that 28.2% (40), 31.5% (42), 39.1% (17), 38.33% (45), 66.7% (30), 70% (49), 72% (41), 75.1% (18), and 65.6% (46) of the cows were infested with ticks. These prevalence rates were higher than the 20.4% reported in Peshawar (21). A prevalence of 10.14% was reported in the cows of Quetta (29). The details as shown in Table 3.

Tick infestation prevalence of 35.87% (44) were recorded in the cows of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 38.33% in Sahiwal (45), and 65.6% in Lahore from Punjab province (46). The cattle in Hajira, Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir were more infested than other animals, with 55.45% being the highest prevalence recorded (52). 11.73% in a study from 2019 in Islamabad (54), 75% in the District of Karak (10), 63.33% in Multan (3), and 24% in Hyderabad (8).

looseness1In 2017, tick prevalence was recorded in various animal species from Mansehra to Gilgit. Of all the examined cattle, 77.91% were found to be infested with ticks (55). In Baluchistan province (Quetta city) prevalence was 65.96% in the cattle (56). Of the total observed farmed cattle in a study from 2017, 89.9% were infested with ticks in the semiarid and arid agro-ecological zones from Punjab (6). A recent study from 2020 (5) studied tick infestation in various livestock species, finding that 65% of the cows were infested with ticks from Baluchistan. These ticks are responsible of causing different diseases like babesiosis, theileriosis, and anaplasmosis in cattle (57).

Of the 44 studies published on ticks as livestock ectoparasites, three examined the prevalence of ticks in camels. A study from 2010 (44) reported that 28.9% of the camels examined were infested with ticks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while 55.56% were found infested in Cholistan (39). More recently, a study from 2020 noted that 47.5% of the examined camels in Balochistan were infested (5).

The prevalence of tick infestation in equids was in the range of 0–26.9%. No horse was found to be tick-infested in Lahore (27). The overall reported tick infestation prevalence in donkeys and other animals in Peshawar was 13.37% (21). In 2010, researchers recorded a prevalence of 4.2% in donkeys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (44), while the overall tick infestation prevalence in equids in Punjab was 4% (36).

The prevalence of ticks in buffaloes varied between regions of Pakistan, as shown in Table 3. The highest prevalence (87.55%) was recorded in Multan (3), and the lowest (3.0%) in Islamabad (54).

The following tick infestation prevalence rates were reported in buffaloes: 5.08% in calves in the Dir District (26); 14.7% (40) and 24.13% (44) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; 40.08% (18) and 47.3% (41) in Punjab. The overall prevalence of ticks in different animals in Peshawar, including buffaloes, was 11.30% (21). The detailed prevalence of ticks in other areas is shown in Table 3.

The prevalence of ticks in goats and sheep varied between regions of Pakistan, as shown in Table 3. In Punjab, it was found that about 18.8% (40) and 64.25% (53) of the sheep and 12.3% (40) of the goats were infested with ticks. A study in Punjab from 2008 recorded a prevalence of 51.6% in goats and 0% in sheep (18). The recorded prevalence in Attock was 43.37% in sheep and 41.53% in goats (43). In 2010, a prevalence of 23.13% was recorded in the goats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (44), 33.58% of the goats of the district of Toba Tek Singh (11), and 86.50% of the goats in Sargodha (51). In Hajira, Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, 54.66% of the sheep and 48.0% of the goats were infested (52), while the respective rates in Peshawar were 66.66% and 73.68% (2).

A 2017 assessment of various animals from Mansehra to Gilgit recorded tick infestation in 81.47% of the sheep and 72.05% of the goats (55), while another study found infestation in 60.0% of the goats and 11.1% of the sheep (6). More recently, studies from 2020 reported tick infestation rates of 30% in sheep and 27.5% in goats in Balochistan (5), and 50% in sheep and 40.30% in goats in Multan (3).

Babesiosis infection holds a massive economic influence due to loss of beef and meat production in infested animals also causes mortality and morbidity in cattle's all over the world (58).

There is a paucity of available data on tick control in small ruminants in Pakistan, partially because farmers prefer cattle over sheep and goats due to their higher economic significance (59). Considering the significant health and environmental risks connected with acaricides such as organophosphorus compounds, formamidines, pyrethroids, macrocyclic lactones, and phenylpyrazoles, their routine administration is the primary technique of ectoparasites management utilized in Pakistan's ruminants (60–62). In addition, grooming, which is the manual plucking of ticks by agricultural workers, is a popular practice in Pakistan for tick management (63). However, only two studies have evaluated the efficiency of acaricidal medicines in vivo, and the authors reported that cypermethrin was the most efficient tick control drug in livestock (59, 64). Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the efficiency of different medicines (alone or in combination with antibiotics) in treating ectoparasites, including buparvaquone, diminazene aceturate + imidocarb dipropionate, and oxytetracycline (65).

Ectoparasites are found throughout Pakistan's diverse ecological and topographical zones. Pakistan's diverse landscapes include plains, deserts, forests, and plateaus, extending from the Arabian Sea coast in the south to the mountains in the north. Due to Pakistan's geography inside South Asia's subtropical region (30° N, 70° E), the majority of the country provides favorable climate patterns for parasites especially ticks and other ectoparasites, which may invade a myriad of hosts and transfer illness to human, livestocks, and pet animals (60).

Vector-borne microorganisms and many illnesses are present in the ecology of a range of arthropods, and their prevalence may be rising due to climate change and human-induced arthropod promotion (66). These activities include agricultural methods, communal sports and recreation, tourist and commerce globalization, and forestry incursion, all of which enhance communities' exposure to microorganisms created in these changing environments (67–69). As for the limitation, the review protocol is not registered, which is the primary limitation of the current study.