About
Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) is an economically important pathogen that causes large economic and individual losses in both bovines and equines causing vesicular lesions in the nostrils, lips, oral mucosa and tongue, as well as on the coronary band.. Transmission can occur via infected vectors (Culicoides (biting midges), simulids (black flies), but animal-to-animal contact rapidly spreads the virus within herds. Vesicular Stomatitis is considered endemic in Colorado (CO) with irregular epidemic cycles. The increased transmission within particular years (2004, 2005, 2012, 2014) is thought to be associated with wet springs coupled with warm summers. The combination of these variables is thought to provide increased breeding habitat and larval hatching of suspected vector species. Climatic and environmental factors affecting VSV vector populations have been studied but definitive associations have not been found; therefore, our field work involves collecting potential VSV vectors on both bovine and equine. In addition to our extensive field studies, we partner efforts in the laboratory to characterize the genetic diversity of VSV strains recently circulating in the US using next generation sequencing technology and phylogenetic analysis. Genetic characterization of currently circulating VSV strains and understanding VSV molecular epidemiology will aid development of strategies for control and prevention of this important disease in Colorado and in the US. These investigations are warranted in order to understand definitive drivers of transmission dynamics.
External Collaborators
Lee Cohnstaedt, Research Entomologist, Foreign Arthropod Borne Animal Disease Research, USDA
Barb Drolet, Research Microbiologist, Animal Research Service, USDA
Foreign Animal Diseases Research Unit (FADRU), USDA
Luis Rodriguez, Research Leader
Miranda Bentram, Visiting Scientist
Lauren Patterson
Lauro Velazquez, Visiting Scientist