Biting flies on dairy farms can spread bovine mastitis

A study published this week in mSphere, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology, has identified Stomoxys flies (also known as stable flies) as carriers of pathogenic bacteria that cause bovine mastitis. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sequenced microbial communities from these biting flies at 2 connected dairy farms, then compared those findings to manure samples from the same farms. In both samples they identified bacterial taxa associated with bovine mastitis.