EPIDEMIOLOGY OF BLUETONGUE IN CENTRAL-AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN - INITIAL ENTOMOLOGICAL FINDINGS

Forty-four species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) were caugh t in insect light traps during the first 2 years of studies on the epi demiology of bluetongue virus in the Caribbean and Central America. Tr aps were operated near sentinel ruminants which were bled monthly for serologic evaluation and then virus isolation. More than 570,000 indiv iduals were identified. Culicoides insignis Lutz accounted for 90% of the catch, C.filarifer Hoffman/C. ocumarensis Ortiz 5%, C.furens Poey 3% and C.pusillus Lutz 2%. Other species accounted for less than 1% of the total catch. Sentinel ruminants became seropositive when C.insign is populations were high at many study sites. At a few sites C.pusillu s and C. filarifer/C. ocumarensis were predominant or were present in large numbers during seroconversions of sentinels. Virus isolations we re obtained from sentinel ruminants during times when these same speci es were present in large populations.