The role of Hydrotaea armipes Fall. (Diptera, Muscidae) in the transmission of infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis.

The tests to isolate the IBK causative agent Moraxella bovis from the flies Hydrotaea armipes Fall., captured while feeding on tears in the eye region of infected calves, have failed. Many successful isolations of Branhamella catarrhalis from the digestive tract of the flies and the smears taken from the eyes of the infected calves indicate that this agent is acquired by the flies while sucking tears from the eyes of the sick animals. A similar transmission is presumed by the authors with Moraxella bovis. In experiment this bacterium survives on the body surface of Hydrotaea armipes for 14 hours, in the digestive tract for 15 hours and even longer.