Modelling the monthly abundance of Culicoides biting midges in nine European countries using Random Forests machine learning.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Culicoides biting midges transmit viruses resulting in disease in ruminants and equids such as bluetongue, Schmallenberg disease and African horse sickness. In the past decades, these diseases have led to important economic losses for farmers in Europe. Vector abundance is a key factor in determining the risk of vector-borne disease spread and it is, therefore, important to predict the abundance of Culicoides species involved in the transmission of these pathogens. The objectives of this study were to model and map the monthly abundances of Culicoides in Europe.

Methods

We obtained entomological data from 904 farms in nine European countries (Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway) from 2007 to 2013. Using environmental an

SUBMITTER: Cuellar AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7161244 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature