Estimating the Survival and Biting Rates of Haematophagous Insects, with Particular Reference to the Culicoides obsoletus Group (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) in Southern England

Birley, Martin; Boorman, J.

doi:10.2307/4315

Cited by 69 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Parameters relating to infection in the host are likely to be robust, but those relating to the vector are likely to vary with species and climate. For some parameters (time interval between blood meals, probability of transmission from host to vector and vector mortality rate), estimates were obtained for UK Culicoides species (Birley & Boorman 1982; Carpenter et al 2006), but in most cases they were derived from outbreak areas, notably the USA (principal vector species, Culicoides sonorensis ) and the Mediterranean basin ( C. imicola ; see references in table 1 for details). Although most effort should focus on estimating the five key parameters (biting rate, EIP, vector mortality rate, probability of transmission from host to vector and the ratio of vectors to cattle and sheep) and, in particular, their dependence on temperature and other environmental factors, it should be noted that all parameters require more robust estimates and, in particular, estimates that are directly applicable to UK.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number

Gubbins

Carpenter

Baylis

et al. 2007

J. R. Soc. Interface.

184

232

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Since 1998 bluetongue virus (BTV), which causes bluetongue, a non-contagious, insect-borne infectious disease of ruminants, has expanded northwards in Europe in an unprecedented series of incursions, suggesting that there is a risk to the large and valuable British livestock industry. The basic reproduction number, R 0 , provides a powerful tool with which to assess the level of risk posed by a disease. In this paper, we compute R 0 for BTV in a population comprising two host species, cattle and sheep. Estimates for each parameter which influences R 0 were obtained from the published literature, using those applicable to the UK situation wherever possible. Moreover, explicit temperature dependence was included for those parameters for which it had been quantified. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses based on Latin hypercube sampling and partial rank correlation coefficients identified temperature, the probability of transmission from host to vector and the vector to host ratio as being most important in determining the magnitude of R 0 . The importance of temperature reflects the fact that it influences many processes involved in the transmission of BTV and, in particular, the biting rate, the extrinsic incubation period and the vector mortality rate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number

Gubbins

Carpenter

Baylis

et al. 2007

J. R. Soc. Interface.

184

232

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“…In moderate or cold regions, the four larvae take their rest and over winter at protected places in their habitat. Besides their regular feeding on sugar-containing plant-juice, the females ingest blood at intervals of 3-4 days, if available (Birley and Boormann 1982), since they need it for egg deposition. This behaviour offers the chance for virus transmission in general during the 3-5 following blood meals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First occurrence of Culicoides obsoletus-transmitted Bluetongue virus epidemic in Central Europe

et al. 2007

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In August 2006, Bluetongue virus disease (BTD) was detected for the first time in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Northern France. Serological tests as well as reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) proved the occurrence of Bluetongue virus (BTV) in diseased sheep and cattle, and the virus was identified as serotype 8. Therefore, the search for possible vectors was immediately initiated in the outbreak region in Germany. Traps with automatically regulated ultraviolet light lamps were placed at two different farms with sero-positive cattle, and insect monitoring was done from August 2006 until January 2007. The caught arthropods were weekly determined, and it could be observed that midges of the dipteran family Ceratopogonidae occurred in large numbers, sometimes representing up to 40% of all individuals. The microscopical analysis of the wing morphology showed that the species (complex) Culicoides obsoletus was most abundant covering about 97% of the analysed midges. On the second place ranged C. pulicaris, while C. nubeculosus and C. festivipennis were found only as single individuals. Fed and unfed females were separated, sent to the National Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue disease (Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Isle of Riems, Germany) and investigated with a BTV-8-specific real-time RT-PCR. It could be demonstrated that at both farms both fed and unfed C. obsoletus were tested positive for BTV-8 genomes, while none of the other species scored positive. This finding strongly supports that the BTD-epidemic, which reached in the meantime wide regions of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany and of the neighbouring countries with several hundreds of affected farms, is initiated by virus transmission during the blood meal of midges of the C. obsoletus complex. Since they were captured still at the 21st of December close to cattle with clinical signs, it must be feared that BTV-8 is now established in Central Europe, where it had been absent until now.

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“…C. obsoletus Meigen (which also bites man) is perhaps the most abundant Culicoides species in the UK, although out-numbered by C. impunctatus in western Scotland (Campbell & Pelham-Clinton, 1960). In southern England C. obsoletus appears to be trivoltine (Birley & Boorman, 1982). The present study of C. impunctatus in south-west Scotland has combined a seasonal study of its population dynamics with assessments of the physiological conditions of the females at various stages in their life cycle, including a number of distinct behavioural phases (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bivoltinism, survival rates and reproductive characteristics of the Scottish biting midge, Culicoides impunctatus (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Scotland

Blackwell

Mordue

Young

et al. 1992

Bull. Entomol. Res.

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Studies on Culicoides spp. biting midges in south-west Scotland in 1991 revealed that Culicoides impunctatus Goetghebuer, the dominant species throughout the season (May-September), was bivoltine, with a generation period of six weeks. Unseasonal climatic conditions during much of June resulted in a low proportion of first generation females surviving to the parous stage and a reduction in the overall, expected size of the second generation. Distinct behavioural phases of the female midges, such as resting, dispersal and host-seeking, were shown to be directly related to parity states (determined by fat body condition and ovarian development) during the gonotrophic cycle. Female flight activity increased after laying the first, autogenous egg batch, whereas males never flew far from the emergence site. The mean parous rate formula was used to calculate the survival rate of second generation nulliparous females, which was 0.57 per gonotrophic cycle.

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Estimating the Survival and Biting Rates of Haematophagous Insects, with Particular Reference to the Culicoides obsoletus Group (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) in Southern England

Cited by 69 publications

References 9 publications

Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number

Assessing the risk of bluetongue to UK livestock: uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of a temperature-dependent model for the basic reproduction number

First occurrence of Culicoides obsoletus-transmitted Bluetongue virus epidemic in Central Europe

Bivoltinism, survival rates and reproductive characteristics of the Scottish biting midge, Culicoides impunctatus (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Scotland

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