Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Italy.
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Italy; Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.
Acta Trop. 2020 Sep;209:105521. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105521. Epub 2020 May 21.
Hippoboscid flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), commonly known as keds or louse flies, have been for long time overlooked by the scientific community, and their vector role of infectious agents to humans and domestic animals has been scantly investigated. This is partly due to the fact that the host range for most species is primarily restricted to wildlife, being rarely reported on domestic animals and humans. This led to a scarce scientific knowledge about their biology, ecology, behaviour, epidemiology as well as vector competence. However, the life history of some hippoboscid species, e.g., Melophagus ovinus, Lipoptena cervi and Hippobosca equina, suggests that these ectoparasites are important candidates to vector infectious disease agents (e.g., Rickettsia spp., Borrelia spp., Bartonella spp., Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Theileria ovis). Indeed, the peculiar biological and behavioural traits (i.e., obligatory blood sucking and reproductive physiology) of many ked species make them a suitable pabulum for pathogen's multiplication and for their transmission to receptive hosts. Therefore, studies focusing on the ked bio-ecological aspects as well as on their vector role are advocated along with the control of keds affecting different animal species. This review discusses current information on keds, highlighting their importance as vectors of pathogens of medical and veterinary concern to all animal species, with a special focus on mammals.
虻科昆虫（双翅目：虻科），通常被称为跳蚤或虱子，长期以来一直被科学界忽视，它们作为传染病媒介对人类和家畜的作用也很少被研究。这在一定程度上是因为大多数物种的宿主范围主要局限于野生动物，很少在家畜和人类身上报告。这导致了关于它们的生物学、生态学、行为学、流行病学以及媒介能力的科学知识匮乏。然而，一些虻科物种的生活史，例如 Melophagus ovinus、Lipoptena cervi 和 Hippobosca equina，表明这些外寄生虫是传播传染病病原体（例如，立克次体、螺旋体、巴尔通体、嗜吞噬细胞无形体、绵羊泰勒虫）的重要候选者。事实上，许多虻科物种特有的生物学和行为特征（即强制性吸血和生殖生理学）使它们成为病原体繁殖和向易感宿主传播的合适食源。因此，应该提倡对虻的生物生态方面以及它们作为媒介的作用进行研究，同时控制影响不同动物物种的虻。本文综述了虻的现有信息，强调了它们作为所有动物物种（特别是哺乳动物）医学和兽医关注的病原体媒介的重要性。
