On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s Department of Agriculture confirmed a case of vesicular stomatitis virus.
VSV is a viral disease that affects horses, cattle and pigs. So far this year, cases of VSV have been reported in Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, and Texas. VSV is listed as a foreign animal disease, which means it is highly infectious. Currently, no FDA approved vaccine is available.
Symptoms include blisters, sores, and sloughing of skin in the mouth, on the tongue, on the muzzle and ears, and above the hooves. Weight loss may also occur.
Flies and midges are the main vectors of VSV.
Here are some things you can do to protect your animals:
- Quarantine animals for 14 days
- Control biting flies
- Keep equine under a roof at night
- Keep stalls clean
- Feed and water using individual buckets
- Don’t visit any premise under quarantine