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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky State Veterinarian Robert C. Stout has issued an order prohibiting the entry of all livestock, wild and exotic animals into Kentucky from Maricopa County, Ariz., after a horse there was diagnosed with vesicular stomatitis on Monday.
Maricopa County is in south-central Arizona and includes the city of Phoenix. The order adds Maricopa County to three counties in southwestern New Mexico – Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties – from which animals are prohibited from entering Kentucky due to findings of vesicular stomatitis in animals there.
Any livestock, wild and exotic animal from the remainder of New Mexico and Arizona must be tested and found negative for vesicular stomatitis and must meet other requirements to be allowed to enter Kentucky.
Vesicular stomatitis (VS) is a viral disease that occurs sporadically in the U.S., usually in southwestern states. It 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 United States since 1929.
For more information or for updates, go to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Web site, www.kyagr.com, and click on Animal Health.
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