Expansion of Culicoides imicola, the main bluetongue virus vector in Europe, into Catalonia, Spain

Impact of bluetongue virus infection on the international movement and trade of ruminants

“…These regulatory barriers continue to adversely impact animal trade, 23,33 despite the fact that bluetongue is emerging only in areas such as the Mediterranean Basin where expansion of the virus' range likely reflects incursion from adjacent ecosystems (perhaps as the result of climate change). 3,12,14,15,[20][21][22] Although critical aspects of the epidemiology of BTV infection remain to be thoroughly characterized, there clearly is little scientific justification for the restrictive and protectionist nontariff trade barriers pertaining to bluetongue that continue to be used by some countries to restrict animal movement and trade. The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement of the World Trade Organization requires that member countries not apply sanitary and phytosanitary regulations in an arbitrary or discriminatory "zero-risk" manner as a means of protecting their domestic animal industries.…”

“…The continuation of global warming would be predicted to extend the northern and southern extremes of BTV distribution by expanding the range of competent insect vectors, as has occurred recently in the Mediterranean Basin where viruses from adjacent regions of North Africa and the Middle East have now become established. 3,[12][13][14][20][21][22] It is increasingly evident that BTV has not recently been spread globally through international trade of ruminants or their germ plasm. Rather, BTV exists in distinct ecosystems in different regions of the world and specific virus strains have likely coevolved with different species of insect vector ( Figure 1).…”

Effects of permethrin (Flypor®) and fenvalerate (Acadrex®60, Arkofly®) on Culicoides species—the vector of Bluetongue virus

“…This disease seemed to be limited mainly to Africa and to regions close to the northern rim of the Mediterranean Sea (literature c.f. Purse et al 2005;Sarto i Monteys et al 2005), but became recently propagated very successfully in Central Europe.…”

First record of Culicoides imicola, the main vector of bluetongue virus in Europe, in the Basque Country (northern Spain)

“…The most abundant species was Culicoides obsoletus-scoticus (96·2 per cent) followed by Culicoides lupicaris (3 per cent), Culicoides pulicaris (0·3 per cent), Culicoides punctatus (0·2 per cent), Culicoides chiopterus (0·1 per cent), Culicoides dewulfi (0·08 per cent), Culicoides newsteadi (0·06 per cent), C imicola (0·014 per cent), Culicoides festivipennis (0·014 per cent), Culicoides kibunensis (0·002 per cent), Culicoides comosioculatus (0·002 per cent) and Culicoides stigma (0·002 per cent). The identification of C lupicaris , C comosioculatus and C stigma represent the first time these species have been recorded from the Iberian Peninsula (Rawlings 1996, Delecolle 2002, Miranda and others 2003, Sarto i Monteys and others 2005). …”