On April 13, the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, confirmed a finding of vesicular stomatitis virus infection on an equine premises in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. A single horse on the index premises has met the case definition of infection with compatible clinical signs and virus isolation positive results. A second equine premises in Sierra County, New Mexico, subsequently met confirmed VSV case definition with compatible clinical signs and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-positive results for VSV. This is the 2020 VSV index case for the United States and subsequent VSV case for New Mexico.
The epidemiological investigations on both VSV-positive premises indicate that incursion of VSV-infected insect vectors is the likely source of infection in these herds. Biosecurity measures and vector mitigation have been instituted to reduce spread of the virus.
