Making the Case against the biting midge: evidence is building that the biting midge, Culicoides sonorensis, is a vector of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which causes significant economic losses in cattle, horses, and swine. From: Agricultural Research | Date: April 1, 2005| Author: Bliss, Rosalie Marion | COPYRIGHT 2005 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

In the western United States, blood-sucking members of the fly family lay their eggs in the soft mud near water troughs that quench thirsty livestock. These tiny but hardy insects are biting midges known as Culicoides (ku-li-COY-deez) sonorensis. Adult midges are only about as long as a nickel is thick.

But size can be deceptive. C. sonorensis are known to be disease carriers, or vectors, that transmit bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic viruses among livestock and wild...