Controlling the screwworm

Cochliomyia hominivorax, the New World screwworm is a serious pest that lays its flesh eating larvae into wounds of humans and any other warm blooded animals causing myiasis. The adult female fly lays batches of 200-400 eggs on the edge of fresh wounds and the larvae hatch and burrow into flesh 12-21 hr later. The…
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Bluetongue in Northern Europe

The recent bluetongue epidemic in northern Europe began in the summer (August) of 2006 and cases have been detected up until January 2007. The outbreak has been caused by serotype 8 of the virus and of the 2124, 695 cases were reported from Belgium, 7 from France, 952 from Germany, 460 from the Netherlands, and…
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Alzheimer’s disease in cats

Listening to the news on the BBC radio 4 this morning (6 December) I heard an item about a condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease being found in cats. This story would probably not surprise anyone who has lived with an aging pet, even though the range of cognitive tasks required of the domestic cat does…
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