{"id":66828,"date":"2019-08-06T18:11:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T00:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/virus-outbreak-hits-montezuma-la-plata-counties\/"},"modified":"2019-08-07T00:11:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T00:11:47","slug":"virus-outbreak-hits-montezuma-la-plata-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/virus-outbreak-hits-montezuma-la-plata-counties\/","title":{"rendered":"Virus outbreak hits Montezuma, La Plata counties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A virus that affects mainly horses is making animals sick in La Plata and Montezuma counties.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A virus outbreak that affects mainly horses and cattle is on the rise in Montezuma and La Plata counties.<\/p>\n

In mid-July, the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced two horses in La Plata County tested positive<\/a> for the vesicular stomatitis virus.<\/p>\n

Keith Roehr, Colorado state veterinarian, said Monday that number has jumped to 54 confirmed cases in La Plata County.<\/p>\n

In Montezuma County 18 cases have been confirmed. Statewide, there have been about 475 investigations into suspected vesicular stomatitis cases, with 287 animals actively quarantined. About 30 animals have been released.<\/p>\n

La Plata County is in the top four counties in the state with the most outbreaks: Larimer has 93, Boulder has 48 and Weld has 43 confirmed cases. Archuleta County has 10 confirmed cases.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s causing the outbreak? The disease is not completely understood, Roehr said, but it can be transmitted through flies and insects.<\/p>\n

Outbreaks aren\u2019t all that common, he said. Since 1994, there have been only six outbreaks in Colorado, not including this year. It\u2019s suspected that increased rainfall and vegetation allows for fly breeding grounds to thrive, possibly leading to an uptick in animals contracting the virus, Roehr said. The most recent outbreak is affecting horses; there has been only one infected steer, in Boulder County.<\/p>\n

Roehr said he was not aware of any horses that have died because of the virus, but it\u2019s \u201cnot out of the realm of possibilities.\u201d He said most animals recover with minor care. \u201cBut it can be very painful, and it can take an extended period of time to completely heal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of vesicular stomatitis can include excessive salivation, lesions in the mouth, nostrils and feet, lack of appetite and lameness.<\/p>\n

Roehr said if people who own horses or other livestock start to notice their animal exhibiting these symptoms, they typically contact their veterinarian, who in turn, contacts the state\u2019s Department of Agriculture if vesicular stomatitis is suspected.<\/p>\n

Owners can voluntarily quarantine the animal for two weeks, or get a test to confirm the disease, then quarantine the animal for two weeks.<\/p>\n

Treatment during this time is symptomatic but can include cleaning lesions with antiseptic solutions or providing animals with mouth lesions with softer food.<\/p>\n

Prevention methods include strict fly control around a property, such as eliminating fly breeding areas and proper insecticide use for livestock and barn areas.<\/p>\n

Manure management and removing wet bedding are other ways to prevent the spread of the disease, Roehr said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people do apply fly control \u2026 the risk can be minimized significantly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has animals they suspect of having the vesicular stomatitis virus should report it to state officials at (303) 869-9130.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Confirmed cases jump during past month, officials say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,21,13,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-66828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66828"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=66828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}