Schmallenberg virus

[Prep Girl]

Not sure a thought is good enough


Humans are thought to be unaffected by the virus, which is understood to be spread by midges, mosquitoes and ticks.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17236328

[bigpaul]

i think 1 case was detected in Cornwall, all the rest were in the south east, spread by midges i heard, trouble is the better weather is coming and we may get more infections of this, what we really need is cold weather to kill the insects off.

[NorthernRaider]

IIRC female Malaria mosquitos were found in a few small spots down south in the last few years.

[bigpaul]

yes, when we lived in Somerset the Levels had mosquito's all around, someone said that within 2-3 years the malaria type would be living there, so maybe they are there now?

[NorthernRaider]

I think the original story involved dockyards darn sarf that had ship come in that had old tyres draped over bits of the hull to act like rubber fenders, there was stagnent water trapped inside the tyre case in little pools and the malaria mossies arrived in that dirty puddle.

Plus thers cases of wood eating termites eating a bungalow in dorset
Small nasty scorpions living in the cracks on frieght yard loading platforms

[preservefreak]

I guess it's inevitable that these things will get here somehow but malaria!? If we start getting deaths they'll have to spray deet onto every open bit of water around. I hope it's too cold for them to survive more than 1 season.

[bigpaul]

what we need is good old cold winters like we used to have when i was a kid in Yorkshire with snow piled up above my head(i was 5 years old). as far as insects are concerned, we had a case of TERMITES in a house in Croyde(near Barnstaple) about 10 years ago, so this lot is nothing new, anyone remember Dutch Elm Disease or Sudden Oak Death? i think they were spread by some insect or other.