To date, the number of Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) premises recorded in Colorado and Texas continue to mount as the number has grown to 247. The Colorado Department of Agriculture reported on their official Facebook page Friday:
There are currently 192 VS-positive premises quarantined in Colorado; the quarantines are located in Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, and Weld Counties. Some of the early affected premises are now starting to come off quarantine; there are six facilities that have been released from quarantine in the last week.
Many VSV-positive cases will need the lesions rechecked for signs of re-epithelialization. Practicing veterinarians or state/federal personnel can perform the recheck of lesions. Once there is a layer of new cells covering the lesion, the 21-day countdown can be started for release of the quarantine. The final lesion check after 21 days to release the quarantine must be done by a state or federal veterinarian.
In Texas, the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) says they received confirmation of two new cases of Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) in horses located 8 miles northwest of Bastrop in Bastrop County. One premises in Guadalupe County, one premises in Travis County, and all premises in Val Verde County have been released.
To date, 55 premises in 11 Texas counties have been confirmed with VS. Currently affected counties include: Bastrop, Falls, Guadalupe, Travis, and Williamson counties. Eleven of the 55 premises have been released and
six counties have been released from quarantine: Jim Wells, Kinney, Nueces, San Patricio, Val Verde and Hidalgo counties.
According to the USDA, Vesicular stomatitis is a viral disease that primarily affects horses and cattle and occasionally swine, sheep, goats, llamas, and alpacas. Humans can also become infected with the disease when handling affected animals, but this is a rare event.
While vesicular stomatitis does not generally cause animals to die, it can still cause economic losses to livestock producers. The clinical signs of the disease include vesicles, erosions and sloughing of the skin on the muzzle, tongue, teats and above the hooves of susceptible livestock. Vesicles are usually only seen early in the course of the disease. The transmission of vesicular stomatitis is not completely understood but components include insect vectors,mechanical transmission, and livestock movement. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
