Earlier this week, scientists at Britain’s Institute for Animal Health received a 680,000 pound grant to study the Culicoides midge genome. The Culicoides midge spreads several livestock diseases, including bluetongue and African horse sickness. Researchers also suspect that the midge spreads Schmallenberg virus.
Schmallenberg virus first appeared last summer in cattle in Germany and the Netherlands. The virus infects pregnant animals, leading to deformed limbs in the fetuses, along with reduced milk production, diarrhea, and fever in cattle. In May 2012, 3745 livestock operations in the European Union were infected with the disease. Though Schmallenberg virus was initially confined to continental Europe, as of July 9th 275 UK farms reported the disease.