Martínez-DE LA Puente J, Navarro J, Ferraguti M, Soriguer R, Figuerola J
Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EBD-CSIC), Seville, Spain.
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
Med Vet Entomol. 2017 Dec;31(4):333-339. doi: 10.1111/mve.12247. Epub 2017 Jul 27.
Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are vectors of pathogens that affect wildlife, livestock and, occasionally, humans. Culicoides imicola (Kieffer, 1913) is considered to be the main vector of the pathogens that cause bluetongue disease (BT) and African horse sickness (AHS) in southern Europe. The study of blood-feeding patterns in Culicoides is an essential step towards understanding the epidemiology of these pathogens. Molecular tools that increase the accuracy and sensitivity of traditional methods have been developed to identify the hosts of potential insect vectors. However, to the present group's knowledge, molecular studies that identify the hosts of C. imicola in Europe are lacking. The present study genetically characterizes the barcoding region of C. imicola trapped on farms in southern Spain and identifies its vertebrate hosts in the area. The report also reviews available information on the blood-feeding patterns of C. imicola worldwide. Culicoides imicola from Spain feed on blood of six mammals that include species known to be hosts of the BT and AHS viruses. This study provides evidence of the importance of livestock as sources of bloodmeals for C. imicola and the relevance of this species in the transmission of BT and AHS viruses in Europe.
蠓（双翅目：蠓科）是影响野生动物、家畜以及偶尔也会影响人类的病原体的传播媒介。伊氏蠓（基弗，1913年）被认为是在欧洲南部导致蓝舌病（BT）和非洲马瘟（AHS）的病原体的主要传播媒介。研究蠓的吸血模式是了解这些病原体流行病学的重要一步。为了提高传统方法的准确性和敏感性，已开发出分子工具来识别潜在昆虫传播媒介的宿主。然而，就本研究团队所知，目前尚缺乏在欧洲识别伊氏蠓宿主的分子研究。本研究对在西班牙南部农场捕获的伊氏蠓的条形码区域进行了基因特征分析，并确定了该地区其脊椎动物宿主。该报告还回顾了全球范围内有关伊氏蠓吸血模式的现有信息。来自西班牙的伊氏蠓以六种哺乳动物的血液为食，其中包括已知为蓝舌病和非洲马瘟病毒宿主的物种。本研究证明了家畜作为伊氏蠓血餐来源的重要性以及该物种在欧洲蓝舌病和非洲马瘟病毒传播中的相关性。
