Clinical signs associated with infection with these viruses range from sudden death to chronic disease. Infections with these viruses do not always result in disease and asymptomatic and nonfatal infections may be common. Animals with HD may be depressed and have pyrexia. Normal body temperature for a WTD is about 101- 102 C, depending on the degree of excitment, and in HD the temperature may reach 106 C or more. Note the reddening of the periocular skin and nostrils in this white-tailed deer. Hyperemia is characteristic of the acute phase of the disease.
Swelling of the head and neck as seen in this deer is also characteristic and a consequence of vascular damage and leakage of serous fluid. In terminal stages of disease the body temperature may become subnormal. Animals may also be lame and if they live long enough they may have oral ulcers. Animals from about 7 to 14 days post infection will have coagulation defects and may bleed from venipuncture sites. Sick and dead animals may be found in or near water.
Pronghorn may have prominent central nervous system signs.
Recovered animals or animals that live for more than a month post infection may have fever rings or cracked or sloughing hoofs, generally involving all four feet. The white-tailed deer hoof grows about 0.5 cm per month, thus a measurement from the coronary band to this growth interruption can be used to estimate when an animal was initially infected.
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