New Mexico Livestock Board
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| Vesicular
stomatitis is a viral disease that primarily affects cattle,
horses, and swine. The virus that causes vesicular stomatitis
has a wide host range. This disease also occasionally affects
sheep and goats. Many species of wild animals, including deer,
bobcats, goats, raccoons, and monkeys, have been found to be
susceptible hosts. Humans can also become infected with
vesicular stomatitis when handling affected animals.
Vesicular stomatitis is most likely to occur during warm months in the Southwest, particularly along river ways and in valleys. The Southwestern United States experienced a vesicular stomatitis outbreak from May 1998 through January 1999. It is essential that veterinarians and livestock owners be on the alert for animals displaying clinical signs characteristic of the disease. In affected livestock, vesicular stomatitis causes blister like lesions to form in the mouth and on the dental pad, tongue, lips, nostrils, hooves, and teats. These blisters swell and break, leaving raw tissue that is so painful that infected animals generally refuse to eat or drink and show signs of lameness. Severe weight loss usually follows, and in dairy cows, a severe drop in milk production commonly occurs. Affected dairy cattle can appear to be normal and will continue to eat about half of their feed intake. While vesicular stomatitis can cause economic losses to livestock producers, it is a particularly significant disease because its outward signs are similar to (although generally less severe than) those of foot-and-mouth disease, a foreign animal disease of cloven-hoofed animals that was eradicated from the United States in 1929. The clinical signs of vesicular stomatitis are also similar to those of swine vesicular disease, another foreign animal disease. The only way to tell these diseases apart is through laboratory tests. Veterinarians of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA–APHIS) work to keep vesicular stomatitis from becoming established in the United States because of its similarity to other diseases of concern, its negative impact on livestock production, and its public health implications. Vesicular stomatitis is recognized internationally as a reportable disease. Exports of U.S. livestock and animal products would be restricted if vesicular stomatitis were allowed to spread in this country. Back December 2006: No cases of Vesicular Stomatitis been reported in New Mexico for the year 2006. Disease of
cattle, horses, sheep and goats, which mimics foot and mouth
disease. Samples go to the national lab for confirmation,
suspect animals are quarantined until they are cleared by a
negative result of the laboratory sample. Other states have
placed a quarantine on animals leaving New Mexico, all animals
leaving the state of New Mexico must be inspected and have a
certificate of health.
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