Species diversity and seasonal prevalence of Culicoides biting midges in Sicily

• Main Authors: Torina, A., Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia, Palermo (Italy), Longo, R, Ferrara, M.C, Scimeca, S, Di Marco, V
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Belgrade (Serbia) University of Belgrade, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine 2011
• Subjects: BIODIVERSIDAD; BIODIVERSITA; BIODIVERSITY; BLUETONGUE; CARTOGRAFAA; CARTOGRAPHIE; CARTOGRAPHY; CULICOIDES; DISTRIBUCIAN GEOGRAIFICA; DISTRIBUTION GAOGRAPHIQUE; ESTACIONES DEL AAO; FIAVRE CATARRHALE DU MOUTON; GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_10196; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_1344; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_33949; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_4936; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_5083; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_6911; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_7030; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_7052; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_976; LENGUA AZUL DE LOS OVINOS; MORBIDITA; MORBIDITY; MORBOSIDAD; OVIN; OVINOS; SAISON; SEASONS; SHEEP; SICILE; SICILIA; SICILY
• ISBN: 9788675220343; 8675220340

The Bluetongue (BT) or catarrhal fever of the sheep is a not contagious viral pathology, belonging to a list of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE). This disease is transmitted to the vertebrate hosts through insects of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). The spreading and the intensity of the infections of bluetongue are strongly related to the distribution and abundance of the Culicoides (Torina et al., 2004). The first case of outbreak of BT in Sicily verified in October 2000 in the Province of Palermo in some sheep, after that episode, other Sicilian provinces were also involved in epidemic. In Italy monitoring and surveillance of BT was ruled by the O.M. on May 11th 2001. In concomitance with the first hotbeds, with the collaboration of the National Reference Centre for Exotic Diseases of Institute Zooprofilatitco Sperimentale dell´Abruzzo e Molise an entomological surveillance plan started, that included at the begining the monitoring of the whole island for the presence of Culicoides spp. and C. imicola (Kieffer, 1913) and subsequently a plan of surveillance using fixed traps in each Sicilian province activated weekly, in order to build up the distribution maps and the preventive risk maps of the various species of Culicoides. The captures were carried out in sheep, goats and cattle farms. In Sicily C. imicola has never been particularly abundant or widely distributed (Purse et al., 2004); nonetheless Sicily was one of the first regions to show an epidemic of BT, these data together with BTV isolation in other species of Culicoides suggests that in Sicily the role of the carrier is not to be attributed only to C. imicola (Torina et al., 2007). The data reported in this work include the results of the examination of catches carried out within ten years, from October 2000 to September 2010 to assess the presence of several species of Culicoides in relation to the different seasons.