Arthropods are a group of organisms that include insects, ticks and spiders.
Arthropod-borne pathogens cause significant economic loss and pose a constant threat of epidemic disease to the U.S. livestock industry. Investigations provide general information that is significant for protecting U.S. agriculture from other arthropod-borne animal pathogens, e.g. African Horse Sickness, Anaplasmosis, Heartwater Fever, Akabane and Vesicular Stomatitis. Epidemics caused by such diseases could seriously affect the food supply in the U.S. and cause significant changes in the price and availability of food to the American consumer. These viruses are transmitted in the U.S. to ruminants by a biting midge, Culicoides variipennis , causing disease in domestic and wild ruminants with resulting serious economic losses to the U.S. livestock industry. The presence of BLU viruses in the U.S. has resulted in restrictions on the movement of U.S. livestock and livestock germplasm to BLU-free countries with serious economic effects on trade.