Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) is a viral disease that affects cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, swine and occasionally sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas. The primary clinical signs are blister like lesions on mouth, open sores and drooling. The virus can also cause laminitis which can cause lameness or limping in your animal. Humans can be infected when in direct contact with clinical animals. Currently there have been 608 livestock facilities/ranches in the state of Colorado in that have reported active cases of VS. The following are statistics in surrounding counties: Montrose 27 reported locations with clinical cases, Delta 41 locations and Ouray 5 locations. It is a reportable disease which means that if an owner or veterinarian has reason to believe that an animal is infected with VS, the case must be reported to the USDA State Veterinarian at (303) 869-9130. Once the state Veterinarian is contacted, the facility/ranch is put under a two week quarantine period with no movement of animals on or off the property. The owner is required to report any additional cases that may show up in other animals during the quarantine period as the that will extend the time until two weeks from the last report of clinical signs.
The following link has important information on the disease, transmission and clinical signs. Please review the information and contact our office if you have any animals that may be infected with the virus. For more information, click here.