ABSTRACT
The societal impact of vesicular stomatitis (VS) is felt more adversely in the western states of the United State where large stock shows are an annual event in many cities. Vesicular lesions develop on the tongue and other areas of the oral cavities in bovines and equines, while pigs develop vesicles on the snout. The Diagnostic Virology Laboratory of the National Veterinary Service Laboratory uses a complement-fixing antigen detection test for rapid presumptive diagnosis of vesicular disease in a test sample of vesicular fluid or tissue. The economic impact of VS in livestock is greater and more easily documented in cattle, particularly in dairy herds, than in horses or swine. VS virus is the prototype of the genus Vesiculovirus in the Rhabdovirus family. The viruses of this genus have single-stranded negative-sense RNA genomes. Surveillance for VS virus is directed primarily at recognition and specific laboratory diagnosis of clinical disease in livestock.
