EI Update

With over half the equine population of Royal Randwick infected with EI, over 300 individual properties in NSW affected and reports this morning a thoroughbred mare and foal in the upper Hunter Valley have been diagnosed with EI, it still appears some people are nor aware how dangerous this virus is.

Horse movement in NSW and Qld is banned and will be until no new cases have been diagnosed for a 5 day period. EI is spreading so rapidly it is only a matter of time before either you or someone you know are affected by EI. It is amazing how some people think that it won't happen to them so they don't need to take precautions.

We receive some excellent emails from authorities on this issue and although we generally prefer not to cut and paste articles, because this issue is so severe, we will today. THese make extremely interesting reading for everyone in the industry.

Firstly from BioSecurity in Queensland:-



Prevent the spread
There are things you can do right now to help prevent spread to your property. Check the DPI&F website for more tips, but the most important things are:
Abide by the standstill. Remember, it is illegal to move any horses from your property until notified;
Keep you horses at least 50 metres away from other horses;
Don't handle other people's horses;
Don't share equipment.
More tips for protecting your property
Using your horse float/truck
Vehicles used for transporting horses such as horse floats and trucks are not under the standstill order. However, the following applies:
If your vehicle (float/truck) has been used for moving horses, it will need to be cleaned and disinfected before using again.
If your vehicle (float/truck) is on a quarantined property, you can not move it unless it has been cleaned and disinfected under supervision by Biosecurity Queensland.
If your vehicle (float/truck) has never been used to transport horses (I.e. it's brand new) there is no requirement to clean and disinfect it prior to use.
How to disinfect your vehicle:
Clean thoroughly to remove all dirt, faecal matter and organic material.
Disinfect cleaned surfaces with soap or detergent or disinfectant (not a mixture).
More about decontamination
Standstill remains
The standstill relates to ALL horses and applies to ALL recreational and commercial horse owners. It is still in place in Queensland.
Even if you have a number of properties listed under the one PIC, horses can't move from the boundaries of the property they are on, and must not cross any road.
Check you know everything about the standstill
Manure and other horse products
Under the standstill horse manure and waste bedding cannot be moved off a property but you can use it on your own property for gardening providing it is not going to come in contact with horses.
It must not be moved on or off properties under the Standstill order. Therefore it cannot be sold on the side of the road. Any bags on the side of the road should be removed from sale and moved back into the property they are on.
Commercial exemptions exist. Check the DPI&F website.
The disposal of manure on quarantined properties will be managed under supervision of Biosecurity Queensland Officers.
The virus can be spread by moving animal matter including semen and other horse products. The standstill also relates to horse products.
More about manure and other horse products
Horse services
Horse services such as dentistry, farriery, chiropractic and non-essential vetinary services should only be conducted in emergency situations. This will help minimise the spread of Equine Influenza.
Water restrictions and Equine Influenza
Queenslanders are reminded restrictions do not apply to reasonable actions taken to prevent material risks associated with a hazard to health such as Equine Influenza.
Horses from NSW
Anyone with information about horses bought to Queensland from NSW since 08 August needs to contact DPI&F on 13 25 23.
This is particularly important if horses left NSW between 14 August and 26 August.
Biosecurity Queensland has already undertaken an extensive tracing program but is now double checking to see if any animals have been missed.
Thank-you for reporting suspicious symptoms
Biosecurity Queensland is busy undertaking trace backs and following up reports of horses with suspicious symptoms.
Thank-you to everyone for your vigilance in reporting these suspected cases. Remember, Equine Influenza is a Notifiable Disease in Queensland.
Share this important information



Secondly from the Horse Industry Council:-


Equine Influenza – where to from here?
It is 10 days since we knew that flu was in the general population, how are we doing?
We have 300 properties in NSW expected to get EI in the near future - not bad considering there were 250 horses at the first event where EI was spread and before the lockdown occurred. Most of these cases are in areas where there is a high density of horses and properties are small. We are expecting and identifying spread from property to property over fences and by airborne movement because the disease is highly infectious. It may be that all horses become infected in high density areas. This will impose a huge workload on the NSW Control Centres - they are under pressure but responding well.
The disease will burn itself out if movements are controlled. The disease came in at the worst possible time. Spread is best under winter conditions. There will be less property to property spread in summer due to temperature and UV effects.
There are calls to let the disease run. All horse owners need to resist this and to support the State DPI’s to continue the control effort. We are not in a similar position to overseas countries.
We have no pool of vaccinated horses - all ours are naive and highly susceptible. If we let it go now we will have deaths of 10 - 40% of young foals - there are thousands out there at this time. It will not be just the TB's - all will get it. There will not be 300 infected properties, there will be more like 30,000.
NSW and Queensland are suffering now. If flu gets away and there is no stand still, it will be in Melbourne this week and we can kiss the spring carnival and Melbourne Cup goodbye. All horse events will be cancelled nationally. If the positions were reversed, would NSW horse people want the Victorians to do that to us?
Some people are saying vaccinate. With what? It will be weeks before we can get supplies of the right vaccine. Vaccination is far from 100% - otherwise EI would not have got here in the first place. If we vaccinate we will still be subject to a standstill until all horses are vaccinated and become immune. Do you think governments are going to pay for the vaccination of all horses every 6 months? Who is going to pay for that?
Those that have been overseas know that living with flu means issuing horses with passports at a cost of at least $200 each and then vaccinating every 6 months. The vaccine costs about $30 plus vet costs. Then at every event you have to show paperwork proving current vaccination status. People running events will have to find extra people to check the paperwork. Vaccination might not prove a huge disadvantage to wealthy TB breeders or owners but it will have a huge effect on the battlers. It will change horse ownership as we know it in Australia.
Authorities are amazed at the level of support shown by horse owners. This needs to continue at 100%. A small vocal group complaining about something could quickly evaporate the support shown by the state governments. The Feds are ducking for cover. The truth will come out but probably after the election. Keep the faith.
If you are not a member, please join the AHIC. Membership has not been a prerequisite for registering on the Horse Emergency Contact Database but we need more support to cover our costs. Emails are free but running the website costs real dollars. If we send out an emergency SMS to 5000 people it will cost $1250 of our limited funds. We will need over 60 new individual members just to pay for that.
Many thanks.



Please, this is critical information everyone with horses should understand and follow. Pass it onto everyone you know with horses. The sooner we stop the spread, the sooner we cna go back to life as we used to know it.