Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Scotland's biting midge population carries previously unknown viruses, according to new research.
The viruses are of species similar to those found in insects and other invertebrates.
The Scottish study also indentified an alphanodavirus and the scientists said some of these viruses can prove fatal to animals, such as pigs and birds.
They said midges were not a current health concern in Scotland and the public should not be concerned.
A notorious pest in the Highlands and Argyll, the midges in the study were collected in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
Scientists at the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research carried out the study, which has been published in the scientific journal Viruses.
The newly-identified viruses, an alphanodavirus, two rhabdo-like viruses and a chuvirus, were found to be sufficiently different from known species to be categorised as "novel".
The scientists said there was currently no evidence that these viruses pose a threat to humans.
In other parts of Europe, midges were found to be responsible for the spread of SBV, a virus that affects livestock, in 2011.
Original study: Metaviromics Reveals Unknown Viral Diversity in the Biting Midge Culicoides impunctatus
The viruses are of species similar to those found in insects and other invertebrates.
The Scottish study also indentified an alphanodavirus and the scientists said some of these viruses can prove fatal to animals, such as pigs and birds.
They said midges were not a current health concern in Scotland and the public should not be concerned.
A notorious pest in the Highlands and Argyll, the midges in the study were collected in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
Scientists at the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research carried out the study, which has been published in the scientific journal Viruses.
The newly-identified viruses, an alphanodavirus, two rhabdo-like viruses and a chuvirus, were found to be sufficiently different from known species to be categorised as "novel".
The scientists said there was currently no evidence that these viruses pose a threat to humans.
In other parts of Europe, midges were found to be responsible for the spread of SBV, a virus that affects livestock, in 2011.
Original study: Metaviromics Reveals Unknown Viral Diversity in the Biting Midge Culicoides impunctatus