Dataset for "Virus detection in Culicoides biting midges during the BTV-3 outbreak in north-west Germany 2024"

In order to compare the prevalence of viruses in biting midges during the BTV-3 outbreak in 2024, a total of 337,359 biting midges belonging to the genus Culicoides were caught on 14 livestock farms in north-western Germany. Following morphological pre-identification, the biting midges were sorted into 7,549 pools and tested using real-time RT-PCRs for the genomes of the Schmallenberg virus (SBV), bluetongue virus (BTV) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV). In addition to the morphological identification of the Culicoides subgenus, the taxa included in virus-positive pools were further determined using species-specific real-time PCRs for subgenus Avaritia or a conventional PCR for subgenus Culicoides. The dataset contains the results of the morphological and molecular biological species identification, as wells as the quantification cycle (Cq) values of SBV and BTV RNA-positive pools.