At least 23 states now have restrictions in place over livestock being moved out of Texas as a result of an outbreak of vesicular stomatitis (VS).
Horses on a total of three sites in Texas and four premises in New Mexico were reported to be infected with VS, a painful blistering disease of livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, swine and deer.
The symptoms are similar to those of highly contagious foot and mouth disease.
The Texas Animal Health Commission website lists 23 states with controls in place: Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. Canada also has restrictions in place.
The viral disease appears spontaneously and sporadically in the southwestern United States and is thought to be transmitted by sand flies and black flies.
Authorities urge livestock owners to make appropriate checks before moving any livestock out of the two affected states.
To prevent animal-to-animal disease transmission, Texas authorities require that the VS-infected animals and the other livestock on the premise remain quarantined until 30 days after all blisters or lesions have healed - a process that usually takes two or three weeks.
Before quarantine release, the animals will be re-examined by a state or federal regulatory veterinarian, to prevent the spread of disease to other premises.
Hillman said during an active year for VS, it was not unusual for the unpredictable disease to be found scattered across several counties and states.
"We urge owners and private veterinary practitioners to report clinical signs of the disease to their state veterinarians' offices.
The last outbreak in the US was in 2006 and was limited to Wyoming, where 17 horses and a dozen cattle on 13 premises were confirmed to have the virus.
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