Jessica Stokes

Background Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are biological vectors of livestock arboviruses that cause diseases with significant economic, social and welfare impacts. Within temperate regions, livestock movement during arbovirus outbreaks can be facilitated by declaring a ‘seasonal vector-free period’ (SVFP) during winter when ad...

This is a methodology protocol for emergence trapping Culicoides biting midges created for the Gnatwork. The Gnatwork is a global network which brings together researchers on blackflies, sandflies and biting midges to address technical issues that arise when working on small biting flies. All methodologies can be freely accessed through the Gnatwo...

Tabanids (Diptera: Tabanidae) are large haematophagous flies that cause both direct (by biting nuisance) and indirect (primarily by mechanical transmission of diseases) damage to host species. Research studies on this family have received little attention in some parts of Europe. Our aims were to characterise the species richness, abundance, and pe...

Background Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are biological vectors of internationally important arboviruses and inflict biting nuisance on humans, companion animals and livestock. In temperate regions, transmission of arboviruses is limited by temperature thresholds, in both replication and dissemination of arboviruses within the...

Background Bovine ephemeral fever virus (Rhabdoviridae: Ephemerovirus) (BEFV) causes bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), an economically important disease of cattle and water buffalo. Outbreaks of BEF in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Middle East are characterized by high rates of morbidity and highly efficient transmission between cattle hosts. Despite...

Background Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are biological vectors of internationally important arboviruses and inflict biting nuisance on humans, companion animals and livestock. In temperate regions, transmission of arboviruses is limited by temperature thresholds, both in replication and dissemination of arboviruses within the...

Here, we report the first complete genome of a bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) isolate from an infected bovine in Israel. The genome shares 95.3% identity with a Turkish genomic sequence but contains α3 and γ open reading frames that are truncated compared to those of existing BEFV genome sequences.

The objective of this study was to gather current, farmer-reported data on the frequency of occurrence, risk factors and treatment practices for the sheep eye disease, ovine infectious keratoconjunctivitis (OIKC). A questionnaire regarding eye disease in sheep was completed by 135 farmers from four livestock markets. Most farmers (87%) had observed...

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) causes abortions, stillbirths and fetal malformations in naïve ruminants. The impact of the initial outbreak (2011/2012) on British sheep farms has been previously investigated, with higher farmer perceived impacts and increased lamb and ewe mortality reported on SBV-affected farms. After several years of low, or no, circu...

In 2011–2012, northern European livestock faced a threat from a newly emerged virus, Schmallenberg virus (SBV), only a few years after a major outbreak of bluetongue serotype 8 (BTV-8). Like BTV-8, SBV is transmitted by Culicoides biting midges to ruminants and spread throughout Europe. SBV, however, spread faster, reaching the UK within three mont...