Parasitic diseases caused by ticks constitute a barrier on global animal production, mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. As a country with a temperate and subtropical climate, Turkey has topography, climate, and pasture resources, and these resources are suitable for animal breeding and parasite–host–vector relationships throughout the country. This geography restricts the regulations on animal movements in the southeastern and eastern Anatolia because of the close contact with the neighboring states. The livestock resources in Turkey are regulated by strong foundations. Almost 30% of the agriculture-based gross domestic product is provided by the livestock industry. Parasitic diseases arising from ticks are endemic in Turkey, and they have a significant impact on the economy and animal health, particularly for ruminants. The main and economically-important tick-borne diseases (TBDs) suffered by animals include theileriosis, babesiosis, hepatozoonosis, and cytauxzoonosis caused by protozoa, and anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis caused by rickettsiae. The most common hemoprotozoan and rickettsial agents are Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Anaplasma platys, Babesia bigemina, Babesia caballi, Babesia ovis, Cytauxzoon felis, Ehrlichia canis, Hepatozoon canis, Theileria annulata and Theileria equi. These diseases are basically controlled through treatment and measures for tick control. Vaccination can be performed for only tropical theileriosis caused in Turkey. We reviewed the studies published in domestic and international journals to gather epidemiological data regarding the major TBDs suffered by animals in Turkey.

Considering the scarce information on occurrences of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in domestic animals from Turkey, the aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of these parasite infections in cattle, horses, sheep, goats and dogs in Turkey. The specific antibodies against T. gondii and N. caninum were detected by iELISAs based on the recombinant TgSAG2 or NcSAG1 in a total of 2,039 serum samples from eleven provinces. The seroprevalence of T. gondii infections was 46.3%, 4.0%, 20.0%, 12.9% and 19.8%, that of N. caninum infections was 0.3%, 7.4%, 2.1%, 3.2% and 16.6% in the horses, cattle, sheep, goats and dogs, respectively. These results indicated that T. gondii and N. caninum infections are prevalent in Turkish domestic animals.