The white tailed deer in North America are now the focus of public concern after a generous number of the animals were killed by the virus, bluetongue. Almost 90 percent of the deer's are now infected by the virus, reports said. The disease is not unusually uncommon disease, animals have been infected by the virus many times in recent years, but the drought that has hit Idaho and Washington has made the disease more viral between animals.
The virus is transferred through a bite of an insect. The drought that hit North America this year has brought on dramatic changes both in weather and the ecosystem. The insects that carry the disease have increase despite the extreme heat and have infected not only deer's but other animals as well. It has been reported that a mule deer and a single bighorn sheep in Idaho have been infected.
The infection outbreak happens annually but most of the time it is limited to small outbreaks across isolated areas, Kristin Mansfield, Washington's state wildlife veterinarian, said. The disease has been identified to be the cause of 68 white tail deaths in the town of Colville in Washington. Mansfield is positive that the virus will only stop from spreading when hard frost kills the gnats that carry it.
The bluetongue disease is able to kill an animal infected by it within a couple of days. The incubation period of the disease ranges between five to 20 days. Symptoms usually manifest themselves within a month. The name of the disease itself comes from the odd symptom it portrays wherein the animal infected will get a blue tongue.
The disease is related to epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which kills the animals through excessive internal bleeding. The disease can be detected through a newly developed test known as ViroCap. It can detect the virus both in humans and in animals.
