Blue Tongue and Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) are viral diseases that impacts farmed and free-ranging white-tailed deer. Though Blue Tongue and EHD are distinctly different, these diseased are sometimes impossible to tell apart. In fact, blood tests results are very similar. For the sake of this article, Blue Tongue and EHD will be used interchangeably. This disease is found most often in sheep, but Blue Tongue has also been found in other livestock such as cattle and goats and other wild ungualtes such as pronghorn antelope and whitetail deer.
White-tailed deer populations have been dealing with these diseases for years, but deer populations continue to hold strong. Blue Tongue and EHD outbreaks in the U.S. occur in deer almost yearly at southern latitudes. EHD and Blue Tongue are spread by midges such as flies or gnats. These insect vectors spread the disease when they bite deer. As a result, outbreaks are virtually untreatable and typically run a course on an annual basis, although weather conditions impact the duration and severity of the outbreak. Continue reading Blue Tongue and EHD Disease in White-tailed Deer