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Blood feeding of Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) in Kenya in relation to the epidemiology of bluetongue and ephemeral fever

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

A. R. Walker  and
P. F. L. Boreham
A. R. Walker*
Affiliation:
Veterinary Research Laboratory, P.O. Kabete, Kenya
P. F. L. Boreham*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London SW7 2AZ, England
*
* All communications and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr P. F. L. Boreham, Imperial College Field Station, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, England.
* All communications and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr P. F. L. Boreham, Imperial College Field Station, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, England.
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Abstract

Engorged Culicoides specimens were collected in light-traps from 16 sites in Kenya. The precipitin test was used to identify the blood-meal source of 682 specimens of 21 species over a period of five years. Culicoides pallidipennis C, I. & M. and C. schultzei (End.) were shown to feed mainly on cattle and to a lesser extent on sheep, and thus could be involved in the transmission of bluetongue virus. C. cornutus De Meillon, C. milnei Aust. and C. zuluensis De Meillon are probably not common enough as feeders on cattle and sheep to play more than an incidental role as vectors of bluetongue. C. schultzei is probably also important in the transmission of ephemeral fever. No groups of vertebrates other than Bovidae were implicated as virus reservoirs.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , March 1976 , pp. 181 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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