Few places in the developed world have a more intense urban-agricultural interface than does southern California, and flies truly are a severe problem for animal agriculture and neighboring suburban populations. An increasingly limited arsenal of chemical control options has prompted us to focus on biological and cultural controls and to study ways to extend effectiveness of available chemicals. One area of current interest is resistance of Musca domestica to toxic baits used widely for their control. Many arthropods also cause direct losses to animal production, and we have recently focused effort on the northern fowl mite, Ornithonyssus sylviarum . This is the most severe ectoparasite of poultry, and is of great concern for producers due to presumed economic effects and worker nuisance.
Treatment is expensive and mostly chemically-based.
We are working on sampling method development, in order to help producers detect and control infestations more efficiently. Eventually this may allow us to designate areas of low risk for BLU transmission and hopefully to predict regions or times of high risk and take appropriate action. Emphasis in dairy settings is on the primary North American BLU vector, C. sonorensis , but other species may transmit the viruses in wild settings. Kalsbeek, V. B. A. Mullens and J. B. Jespersen. Mullens, B. A., A. C. Gerry and R. K. Velten.