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FRANKFORT
, Ky. — State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Stout has banned
all livestock, wild or exotic animals from Texas from
entering Kentucky due to reports of vesicular stomatitis
in horses in west Texas .
The
order also prohibits the entry into Kentucky of any
such animals that have been in Texas in the previous
30 days. It requires equine coming into Kentucky from
states that border Texas to have a negative vesicular
stomatitis test within the 30-day period preceding its
entry into the Commonwealth.
“State
regulations prohibit the entry into Kentucky of livestock,
wild or exotic animals from a state where vesicular
stomatitis has been diagnosed,” Dr. Stout said. “VS
does not pose a danger to the food supply, but it can
cause animals to suffer temporary lameness or stop eating
because of sores on the mouth, and it is believed to
cause flu-like symptoms in humans.”
The
disease was diagnosed in three horses on a ranch in
Reeves County , Texas , about 300 miles southeast of
El Paso . The National Veterinary Services Laboratory
in Ames , Iowa , confirmed the diagnosis on Wednesday.
All
livestock on the affected ranch will be quarantined
for several weeks until they are found to be free of
the disease, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission.
Approximately
2,099 head of livestock from Texas entered Kentucky
in 2003, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's
Division of Animal Health. Most of the livestock were
cattle, equine and goats.
Vesicular
stomatitis is a viral disease that occurs sporadically
in the U.S. , usually in southwestern states. Before
Wednesday, it was last diagnosed in the U.S. in 1998
in Texas and New Mexico .
The
disease can affect horses, cattle and swine, and occasionally
sheep, goats and deer. It causes blisters to form in
the animal's mouth, on teats or along the hooves, resulting
in excessive salivation, lameness or oozing sores.
The
virus is spread by arthropods such as ticks, mosquitoes
or house flies. Infected animals may spread the disease
through their saliva or fluid from ruptured blisters.
VS may incubate for two to eight days before clinical
signs appear. It is rarely fatal and usually lasts about
two weeks.
The
clinical signs of vesicular stomatitis closely resemble
those of foot-and-mouth disease. VS affects equine whereas
foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) does not. FMD has been
eradicated from the U.S. since 1929.
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