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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 Grant County, New Mexico, after two equine on a single premise there today were diagnosed with vesicular stomatitis.
Grant County is located in southwestern New Mexico on the border with Arizona to the west and Mexico to the south.
Any livestock, wild and exotic animal from the remainder of New Mexico must be tested and found negative for vesicular stomatitis and must meet other requirements to be allowed to enter Kentucky. Any equidae from Arizona must be tested and found negative for vesicular stomatitis within 10 days of entering the state.
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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