Veterinary Preventive Medicine-II

SYNONYMS AND INTRODUCTION

Synonyms : Sore mouth, Pseudo foot and mouth disease, Mouth thrush, sore nose

Introduction

• It is an infectious viral disease of cattle, horse, pig characterized by vesicular lesion containing serous fluids in the mouth, foot, interdigital space, udder and teats.
• Vesicular stomatitis virus belongs to number of closely related, antigenically distinct members of the genus Vesiculovirus, RNA virus belonging to Rhabdo viridae family.
• Thre are three serotypes of the virus named as Indiana strain, NewJersey strain and Trinidad strain or Eocal strain.
• The strains can be separated from each other by serum neutralization and complement fixation test.
• The indiana serotype is comprised of four sub types. New Jesrsey strain is more virulent over other strains.
• This febrile disease affects mainly horses, donkeys and cattle and pigs. Other susceptible species include camels, several wildlife species and humans.
• Vesicular stomatitis is clinically similar to foot and mouth disease.
• The disease is limited to the western hemisphere and the infection is endemic in Central America and in regions of South America.
• Outbreaks of the disease occur every two to three years in tropical and subtropical regions, with clinical cases most common at the end of the rainy season and early in the dry season.
• The virus can be biologically transmitted by black flies and mechanically by Culicoides, houseflies.
• The saliva and vesicular fluid from clinically affected animals are highly infective but infectivity diminishes rapidly and may be lost within 1 week after the vesicle rupture.
• From this source, virus may be transmitted by fomites, such as contaminated feed, milking machine and restraint devices.
• Recovered cattle act as convalescent carrier for 38 days to 5 months.