Transmission of hog cholera virus by horseflies (Tabanidae:Diptera)

In experiments in North Carolina, 5 species of Tabanids were fed first on pigs infected with the virus of hog cholera and then on uninfected pigs, which were subjected to tests for antibody to the virus or challenges by inoculation or both to detect whether transmission had occurred. Females of Tabanus lineola F. and T. quinquevittatus Wied. in batches of 2-30 transmitted the virus to 4 of 4 pigs on which they fed 2 h after an interrupted feed on infected pigs and to 2 of 3 pigs on which they fed 24 h after a similarly interrupted feed, but not to 3 pigs on which they fed 8-20 days (during which period oviposition occurred) after completing a feed on infected pigs. Females of T. calens L. and T. sulcifrons Macq. were included in one of the tests with a 2-h interruption of feeding and may therefore be incriminated in transmission of the virus. Females of Psorophora ferox (Humb.) and of 5 species of Aedes did not transmit the virus in tests with two uninfected pigs.