The virus of vesicular exanthema of swine (VES) is different from those causing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and swine vesicular disease (SVD) but it produces a disease in pigs that are clinically indistinguishable from FMD and SVD. Unlike FMD it only effects pigs.
Symptoms
All Pigs
- VES does not affect cattle, sheep, goats or any species other than the pigs and sea mammals. So, unlike FMD, if you keep other livestock they will not be affected.
- Mortality is low but there may be some deaths in sucking piglets.
- Salivation.
- Inappetance.
- Vesicles around the mouth, nose, tongue and feet.
Causes / Contributing factors
- Feeding uncooked garbage/pork scraps to pigs.
Diagnosis
This is the same as for suspected FMD and SVD and requires laboratory tests to identify it.