Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Disease

Within 2 to 8 days following exposure, the animal will be begin to salivate excessively (Fig. 2), and possibly have a low fever, followed by the appearance of the vesicles. In horses the vesicles tend to be on the tongue (although they can appear on lips and nostrils as shown in Fig. 3) and in cattle they tend to be on the lips, hard palate, nostrils, and teats of the udders (Fig. 4); in pigs they tend to be on the hooves. Animals usually recover in 2 weeks and death from VSV is very rare. The disease is of concern because the lesions resemble those in foot and mouth disease which was eradicated from the U.S. in 1929. The diseases can only be distinguished by serologic tests (3). Also in horses, VSV causes a debilitating lameness (2). A vaccine is available but not often used (2). In humans the disease resembles influenza, with fever, malaise, body aches, and headache; an oral rash may also develop, but most human infections are asymptomatic.