Keema 37.6
Noah 37.6
Paz 37.6
Am 37.3
Frontier 38.0
Bart 37.8
Lucky 37.4
Everyone nice and low tonight, thunderstorms about. Trying to collate information from the neighbourhood to get a case for "strategic vaccination". Have calculated that there is close to 100 horses in the neighbourhood which haven't contracted EI - which is astounding. About 70 of these will need vaccinating. Only had one person not interested in vax and that really left field, an educated health professional. Go figure.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday - Day 13 since vac
Keema 38.0
Noah 38.0
Paz 37.9
Am 37.5
Frontier 38.3
Bart 38.0
Lucky 37.6
Home free! Now to get the foals vaccinated and the rest of the neighbourhood. 25 000 doses now available to the PPHI.
Noah 38.0
Paz 37.9
Am 37.5
Frontier 38.3
Bart 38.0
Lucky 37.6
Home free! Now to get the foals vaccinated and the rest of the neighbourhood. 25 000 doses now available to the PPHI.
EI Communique to Qld Vets - Ron Glanville
Equine Influenza - Communiqué to Queensland Veterinarians
From Ron Glanville, Chief Veterinary Officer, Queensland
We are now two months into the equine influenza response in Queensland and NSW. This has been a very trying time for everyone, yet much has been achieved. Now that we have better knowledge of the way this disease operates within our environment, confirmation of many aspects of the disease’s epidemiology, and reasonable supplies of vaccine it is timely to give you an update on the current situation and where we see the response heading.
Current situation
The map below shows the distribution of infection in eastern Australia since the response commenced on 25 August. The positive thing about this map for Queensland is that EI is still contained within the Red Zone in the SE corner of the State. However it only shows part of the story.
The next map below shows the number of new infected premises reported in the last week. While we are still seeing significant numbers of new infections, they are largely within existing clusters and some clusters such as those around Warwick have largely ‘burnt’ themselves out – the numbers or density of susceptible horses has dropped below that needed to maintain the disease. We do not expect to see any more new IPs at Goondiwindi or Milmerran.
The most significant recent new infection is in the Samford Valley, however we are now able to respond to new “outliers” such as this more aggressively using strategic vaccination – more on that later.
The Estimated Dissemination Rate (EDR) graph above shows that the ratio has fallen just below one for Queensland as a whole and for the Rosewood – Minden cluster, well below for Warwick, but above one for the Tamborine cluster and the Brisbane cluster, that includes Samford and Pine Rivers.
We are aware that some level of under-reporting is likely, influencing these figures, but the trend is probably still valid. Some over-reporting is also possible.
Values of EDR that are less than one on a consistent basis indicate that the epidemic is being brought under control. Values of EDR rising above one indicate that the epidemic is continuing to spread and is not being brought under effective control
Where to from here?
There remains a strong commitment both in Queensland and NSW to eradicate this disease. The EI containment & eradication strategy continues to be based on:
• Movement Controls & Biosecurity
• Vaccination buffer zones
• Strategic Vaccination (infection suppression)
• Surveillance
• Infected Premises Controls
• Information & Education
The most significant development is the availability now of reasonable supplies of ProteqFlu vaccine. The view nationally now is that we should only use this type of vaccine if possible, for the following reasons:
· Efficacy – it produces very good immunity, with protective levels from as early as two weeks after the first dose. The following graph shows typical development of immunity in an average horse. Note that individual horses will vary depending on their individual circumstances. This vaccine produces a much quicker immune response than other EI vaccines. This is a vital attribute in an eradication context.
· It is also possible to distinguish between infection and vaccination through serology. This will assist in the future with ‘proof of freedom” work and movement testing.
Of course, no vaccine is 100% effective and significant challenge may still lead to infection – but with milder signs, less virus produced and shedding for a shorter period. While generally beneficial, these attributes of the virus will have to be managed to ensure that infections do not go unnoticed.
This development now enables us to take a much more aggressive approach to eradication of EI through:
· Vaccination buffer zones. A number of you would already be involved in implementing the large vaccination buffer zone around the Red zone. . This zone exploits areas of generally low horse density and is designed to stem outwards spread should infection occur near its boundary. We have now started on an inner buffer to further isolate areas of the red zone that do not have infection. See maps below and DPI&F website for further details.
· Strategic vaccination. We are now in a position to commence strategic vaccination aimed at stopping spread out from existing clusters or new clusters. For example we have commenced vaccination in the northern part of the Samford Valley and will work back towards to new cluster to limit its spread. We will also be looking for significant populations of non-infected horses near existing clusters to protect them and limit further spread.
· Suppression vaccination. There has now been enough vaccine allocated to vaccinate 30,000 horses within the performance & pleasure horse sector. This will do a number of things, including assisting with implementation of protocols to allow limited horse events to recommence, possible in January. However it will also mean that infection will be significantly suppressed in and around the existing clusters, especially around Minden-Rosewood and Tamborine. We are already seeing a similar effect through vaccination of thoroughbred breeding farms around Beaudesert and Toowoomba.
You will also see vaccine used for what we call “business risk mitigation”, such as vaccination of horses in Victoria to protect the Spring Racing Carnival. These are decisions made at the national level in full consultation with industry.
Influenza viruses do not survive well in the environment when conditions of high temperatures and high relative humidity occur. Human and avian influenza epidemics decline markedly when the season changes. We expect that same to be true of equine influenza now that warmer, more humid weather has arrived. So this is a crucial time in which to attack the epidemic. It is more important than ever to ensure that on-property biosecurity is maximised.
With the expected decline in the epidemic and the imminent availability of vaccine, horse owners would be ill-advised to abandon efforts to protect their horses or, of course, to intentionally expose them to the virus.
How long will this last?
For those of us who have been involved in this response, we have been astounded at how contagious this virus is, and how easily it can be spread. Despite this, there are promising signs and with the more aggressive use of vaccination, we now have an aim to have the epidemic largely under control by Christmas (i.e. an EDR approaching zero). This may be seen as a brave call, and we are likely to get further cases into 2008, but I firmly belief this is achievable if everyone plays their part.
A possible progression of changes to zone status follows.
Current
December 2007
March – April 2008
June – July 2008
We are already working on protocols to allow movements to recommence within these new zones so that industry can start to get back on its feet. This is a difficult balancing act as movement of horses will always bring the risk of disease spread. However it is essential otherwise we will not have an industry, owing to the economic effects of movement restrictions.
So, everyone who is contributing to this response, hang in there. I believe it is one of our greatest ever disease control challenges, but we have shown many times before that disease eradication is achievable with appropriate and sustained effort. The strategy to date has worked. The disease has been contained within a small area of Queensland, defences to outward spread have been shored up, and progress is being made.
Thanks you for all your efforts to date.
Regards
Ron
From Ron Glanville, Chief Veterinary Officer, Queensland
We are now two months into the equine influenza response in Queensland and NSW. This has been a very trying time for everyone, yet much has been achieved. Now that we have better knowledge of the way this disease operates within our environment, confirmation of many aspects of the disease’s epidemiology, and reasonable supplies of vaccine it is timely to give you an update on the current situation and where we see the response heading.
Current situation
The map below shows the distribution of infection in eastern Australia since the response commenced on 25 August. The positive thing about this map for Queensland is that EI is still contained within the Red Zone in the SE corner of the State. However it only shows part of the story.
The next map below shows the number of new infected premises reported in the last week. While we are still seeing significant numbers of new infections, they are largely within existing clusters and some clusters such as those around Warwick have largely ‘burnt’ themselves out – the numbers or density of susceptible horses has dropped below that needed to maintain the disease. We do not expect to see any more new IPs at Goondiwindi or Milmerran.
The most significant recent new infection is in the Samford Valley, however we are now able to respond to new “outliers” such as this more aggressively using strategic vaccination – more on that later.
The Estimated Dissemination Rate (EDR) graph above shows that the ratio has fallen just below one for Queensland as a whole and for the Rosewood – Minden cluster, well below for Warwick, but above one for the Tamborine cluster and the Brisbane cluster, that includes Samford and Pine Rivers.
We are aware that some level of under-reporting is likely, influencing these figures, but the trend is probably still valid. Some over-reporting is also possible.
Values of EDR that are less than one on a consistent basis indicate that the epidemic is being brought under control. Values of EDR rising above one indicate that the epidemic is continuing to spread and is not being brought under effective control
Where to from here?
There remains a strong commitment both in Queensland and NSW to eradicate this disease. The EI containment & eradication strategy continues to be based on:
• Movement Controls & Biosecurity
• Vaccination buffer zones
• Strategic Vaccination (infection suppression)
• Surveillance
• Infected Premises Controls
• Information & Education
The most significant development is the availability now of reasonable supplies of ProteqFlu vaccine. The view nationally now is that we should only use this type of vaccine if possible, for the following reasons:
· Efficacy – it produces very good immunity, with protective levels from as early as two weeks after the first dose. The following graph shows typical development of immunity in an average horse. Note that individual horses will vary depending on their individual circumstances. This vaccine produces a much quicker immune response than other EI vaccines. This is a vital attribute in an eradication context.
· It is also possible to distinguish between infection and vaccination through serology. This will assist in the future with ‘proof of freedom” work and movement testing.
Of course, no vaccine is 100% effective and significant challenge may still lead to infection – but with milder signs, less virus produced and shedding for a shorter period. While generally beneficial, these attributes of the virus will have to be managed to ensure that infections do not go unnoticed.
This development now enables us to take a much more aggressive approach to eradication of EI through:
· Vaccination buffer zones. A number of you would already be involved in implementing the large vaccination buffer zone around the Red zone. . This zone exploits areas of generally low horse density and is designed to stem outwards spread should infection occur near its boundary. We have now started on an inner buffer to further isolate areas of the red zone that do not have infection. See maps below and DPI&F website for further details.
· Strategic vaccination. We are now in a position to commence strategic vaccination aimed at stopping spread out from existing clusters or new clusters. For example we have commenced vaccination in the northern part of the Samford Valley and will work back towards to new cluster to limit its spread. We will also be looking for significant populations of non-infected horses near existing clusters to protect them and limit further spread.
· Suppression vaccination. There has now been enough vaccine allocated to vaccinate 30,000 horses within the performance & pleasure horse sector. This will do a number of things, including assisting with implementation of protocols to allow limited horse events to recommence, possible in January. However it will also mean that infection will be significantly suppressed in and around the existing clusters, especially around Minden-Rosewood and Tamborine. We are already seeing a similar effect through vaccination of thoroughbred breeding farms around Beaudesert and Toowoomba.
You will also see vaccine used for what we call “business risk mitigation”, such as vaccination of horses in Victoria to protect the Spring Racing Carnival. These are decisions made at the national level in full consultation with industry.
Influenza viruses do not survive well in the environment when conditions of high temperatures and high relative humidity occur. Human and avian influenza epidemics decline markedly when the season changes. We expect that same to be true of equine influenza now that warmer, more humid weather has arrived. So this is a crucial time in which to attack the epidemic. It is more important than ever to ensure that on-property biosecurity is maximised.
With the expected decline in the epidemic and the imminent availability of vaccine, horse owners would be ill-advised to abandon efforts to protect their horses or, of course, to intentionally expose them to the virus.
How long will this last?
For those of us who have been involved in this response, we have been astounded at how contagious this virus is, and how easily it can be spread. Despite this, there are promising signs and with the more aggressive use of vaccination, we now have an aim to have the epidemic largely under control by Christmas (i.e. an EDR approaching zero). This may be seen as a brave call, and we are likely to get further cases into 2008, but I firmly belief this is achievable if everyone plays their part.
A possible progression of changes to zone status follows.
Current
December 2007
March – April 2008
June – July 2008
We are already working on protocols to allow movements to recommence within these new zones so that industry can start to get back on its feet. This is a difficult balancing act as movement of horses will always bring the risk of disease spread. However it is essential otherwise we will not have an industry, owing to the economic effects of movement restrictions.
So, everyone who is contributing to this response, hang in there. I believe it is one of our greatest ever disease control challenges, but we have shown many times before that disease eradication is achievable with appropriate and sustained effort. The strategy to date has worked. The disease has been contained within a small area of Queensland, defences to outward spread have been shored up, and progress is being made.
Thanks you for all your efforts to date.
Regards
Ron
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday 12th day post vax
Tonight
Keema 37.7
Noah 37.7
Paz 37.9
Am 37.7
Bart 37.9
Frontier 39.1 (Yes, up there again, though not EI, no coughing, no snot no nothing really)
Bartie 37.9
Lucky 37.9
Not sure exactly what is going on with Frontier and wondering if I should do an equine performance profile on him. Marty not so convinced. If we weren't taking temps every night we would be none the wiser. Frontier doing everything normally otherwise, sticking with others, fanging for food, etc.....Though coat gone off and looking "dry" .....really about all.
Touchwood pranged again and really probably need to give him a TAT in the morning and put some TMS in his feed somehow.....not bad but sore.
All others good. Had 65mm rain last night AND IT nearly filled the front dam. Buchanan' dam should be fantastic. Ours in the back paddock was much improved, maybe a third capacity......
All good.
Keema 37.7
Noah 37.7
Paz 37.9
Am 37.7
Bart 37.9
Frontier 39.1 (Yes, up there again, though not EI, no coughing, no snot no nothing really)
Bartie 37.9
Lucky 37.9
Not sure exactly what is going on with Frontier and wondering if I should do an equine performance profile on him. Marty not so convinced. If we weren't taking temps every night we would be none the wiser. Frontier doing everything normally otherwise, sticking with others, fanging for food, etc.....Though coat gone off and looking "dry" .....really about all.
Touchwood pranged again and really probably need to give him a TAT in the morning and put some TMS in his feed somehow.....not bad but sore.
All others good. Had 65mm rain last night AND IT nearly filled the front dam. Buchanan' dam should be fantastic. Ours in the back paddock was much improved, maybe a third capacity......
All good.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Big Truck Sunday - lots of rumbling from above!
Feel like I have so much to write tonight. I actually read the Ausvetplan from start to finish today and it was very interesting. Especially applying it in retrospect. More on that when I get five.
Temps today:
Keema 38.1
Noah 37.8
Paz 38.4 (running about being silly)
Am 37.8
Frontier 38.3
Bart 38.2
Lucky (Marty's secret, but my guess is 38)
Temps today:
Keema 38.1
Noah 37.8
Paz 38.4 (running about being silly)
Am 37.8
Frontier 38.3
Bart 38.2
Lucky (Marty's secret, but my guess is 38)
Vaccine Related?
We've had one with a significant temp spike (once)and with a single solitary snot "goober", one with a suspect spike, most have had some serous nasal discharge over the last week or so, some had white flecks, one mare coughed a few times (but she does that) and an occ. cough over the weeks from others, but mostly food related. No one off their feed. No snotty noses to speak.
Ordinarily - I would count such things as normal, everyday finding.... (normally I don't take temps every day and would not actually pick up the "spikes")...as they didn't look depressed, sick etc.
Everyone running me over for feed. No signs of sore throats etc - the hay they are getting is full of barley ear (yuk) Foals both normal, fat and well - though at times have had serous nasal drip with Touchwood having some nasal discharge the day after he pranged on his nose.
So what has this been - vaccine related reaction? Or are these normal findings - overinterpreted by these stressful times we're enduring.
Ordinarily - I would count such things as normal, everyday finding.... (normally I don't take temps every day and would not actually pick up the "spikes")...as they didn't look depressed, sick etc.
Everyone running me over for feed. No signs of sore throats etc - the hay they are getting is full of barley ear (yuk) Foals both normal, fat and well - though at times have had serous nasal drip with Touchwood having some nasal discharge the day after he pranged on his nose.
So what has this been - vaccine related reaction? Or are these normal findings - overinterpreted by these stressful times we're enduring.
Immunity after Vaccination
From Cyberhorse - comments after being asked the question how quickly does the vaccination take to build significant immunity?
mayville lodge Member since 3-Sep-0760 posts
28-Oct-07, 06:08 AM (AEST)
The situation on the Darling Downs and in the Ipswich region have been interesting to watch. Depending on who was handling the vaccine (and I don't mean the vets - I mean DPI, Thoroughbred Racing or Harness Racing) properties were vaccinated sometimes completely and sometimes to only spelling racehorses, quite often only days before it was inevitable for infection.
With vaccinated horses on properties stabled right next door to unvaccinated the difference between reaction has been great - even horses done as little as 5 days have been showing marked resistance, horses at 8 a clear moisture in the nose for a day or 2, and after 14 days almost nothing at all. This is what the various vets on the front line are saying.
I managed to get 1 vaccine for an at risk pregnant mare - we have been infected for 4 days and she was vaccinated 10 days before that. I have 19 very sick horses and she is totally unaffected, not a sniffle, nothing. She is in a paddock that is centrally located and she is running with another mare that is struggling.
As for the inactive vaccine, people I know and have done business with overseas, current breeders, equestrian centres, and one quarantine centre, in the USA, Canada and Germany, are mystified at what is going on. They all use the inactive vaccine and there are no problems.
The horses that were in Eastern Creek that were genuinely vaccinated with the inactive vaccine did not get sick, the only ones that did were the ones that had done pre-quarantine at their home stud under an honour system, and I understand from the enquiry, there are some serious questions as to whether their vaccinations were up to date.
Wallvale in another post said that their horse caught up in the Eastern Creek was vaccinated with inactive vaccine and did not get sick. I have no doubt that the canary-pox vaccine is superior to the inactive - it hasn't been around long and Australia's results will be an amazing marketing boon. But the inactive vaccine works as well, just not as spectacularly quickly.
mayville lodge Member since 3-Sep-0760 posts
28-Oct-07, 06:08 AM (AEST)
The situation on the Darling Downs and in the Ipswich region have been interesting to watch. Depending on who was handling the vaccine (and I don't mean the vets - I mean DPI, Thoroughbred Racing or Harness Racing) properties were vaccinated sometimes completely and sometimes to only spelling racehorses, quite often only days before it was inevitable for infection.
With vaccinated horses on properties stabled right next door to unvaccinated the difference between reaction has been great - even horses done as little as 5 days have been showing marked resistance, horses at 8 a clear moisture in the nose for a day or 2, and after 14 days almost nothing at all. This is what the various vets on the front line are saying.
I managed to get 1 vaccine for an at risk pregnant mare - we have been infected for 4 days and she was vaccinated 10 days before that. I have 19 very sick horses and she is totally unaffected, not a sniffle, nothing. She is in a paddock that is centrally located and she is running with another mare that is struggling.
As for the inactive vaccine, people I know and have done business with overseas, current breeders, equestrian centres, and one quarantine centre, in the USA, Canada and Germany, are mystified at what is going on. They all use the inactive vaccine and there are no problems.
The horses that were in Eastern Creek that were genuinely vaccinated with the inactive vaccine did not get sick, the only ones that did were the ones that had done pre-quarantine at their home stud under an honour system, and I understand from the enquiry, there are some serious questions as to whether their vaccinations were up to date.
Wallvale in another post said that their horse caught up in the Eastern Creek was vaccinated with inactive vaccine and did not get sick. I have no doubt that the canary-pox vaccine is superior to the inactive - it hasn't been around long and Australia's results will be an amazing marketing boon. But the inactive vaccine works as well, just not as spectacularly quickly.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Temps Saturday
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.7
Paz 37.9
Am 37.6
Frontier 38.3
Bart 38
Lucky 38
All pretty much spot on for these characters! Though Femme did five very nice coughs in a row just before I fed up tonight. No nasal discharge anywhere. Though Mystery's eyes look as if they might need some "fly med" tomorrow morning.
Video of three Kholonial yearlings - Kholonial Abigaail (CCSadaqa x Cameo Apassionataa) = bay, Kholonial Beauzolais (CC Sadaqa x Beauzephalis) -taller chestnut & Kholonial Lord Seth (Abrock Noah x Shayperil Golden Lady) = smaller chestnut (not 1yr until feb)
Noah 37.7
Paz 37.9
Am 37.6
Frontier 38.3
Bart 38
Lucky 38
All pretty much spot on for these characters! Though Femme did five very nice coughs in a row just before I fed up tonight. No nasal discharge anywhere. Though Mystery's eyes look as if they might need some "fly med" tomorrow morning.
Video of three Kholonial yearlings - Kholonial Abigaail (CCSadaqa x Cameo Apassionataa) = bay, Kholonial Beauzolais (CC Sadaqa x Beauzephalis) -taller chestnut & Kholonial Lord Seth (Abrock Noah x Shayperil Golden Lady) = smaller chestnut (not 1yr until feb)
Vaccination will be compulsory - ARB -from Turf Monthly
MELBOURNE - The Australian Racing Board (ARB) has today given in principle approval to the adoption of new Australian Rules of Racing making it mandatory for all horses involved in racing and breeding to be vaccinated as a condition of participation in the industry. In terms of a rationale the Australian thoroughbred sector (racing and breeding) believes that implementing a permanent national vaccination policy is an essential and non-negotiable risk management policy.
In this regard it may be noted that: The UK has vaccinated since 1981 and despite EI being considered endemic in that country no race meetings have been lost because of EI in 25 years (including the 2003 Newmarket outbreak). Notwithstanding that Japan has been considered free of EI from 1972 to 2007 it has a compulsory vaccination program and this has undoubtedly been a significant factor mitigating the losses caused by the 2007 outbreak.
ABARE has included in its modelling the probability of an EI outbreak in Australia once every 20 years irrespective of eradication.“We are still giving our full co-operation to the efforts that are being made to contain and eradicate EI, and we very much hope that the disease can indeed be eradicated.
In this regard it may be noted that: The UK has vaccinated since 1981 and despite EI being considered endemic in that country no race meetings have been lost because of EI in 25 years (including the 2003 Newmarket outbreak). Notwithstanding that Japan has been considered free of EI from 1972 to 2007 it has a compulsory vaccination program and this has undoubtedly been a significant factor mitigating the losses caused by the 2007 outbreak.
ABARE has included in its modelling the probability of an EI outbreak in Australia once every 20 years irrespective of eradication.“We are still giving our full co-operation to the efforts that are being made to contain and eradicate EI, and we very much hope that the disease can indeed be eradicated.
Friday, October 26, 2007
The temp spike not EI - no cough, only Frontier....& the dingo!
Well, stalking Frontier around the paddock in the stifling heat this morning. Eating normally and not a sign of anything - no nasal discharge of any description or cough etc etc...... just one normal looking ....really ....snot goober this morning...... very scientific term, I know but descriptive enough to get the point across.
Quite humid here today. Let Keema and Touchwood out in the back yard for a while to let them have a pick on some fresh green grass.
Quite humid here today. Let Keema and Touchwood out in the back yard for a while to let them have a pick on some fresh green grass.
Temps:
Keema 37.6
Noah 37.7
Paz 37.9
Am 37.7
Frontier 38.3 (Back down to a more Frontier-like temp)
Bart 37.9
Lucky 37.9
All eating, drinking & generally running amok. No coughing.....No EI.....Wondering whether I should do an Equine Performance Profile on Frontier......maybe not....just probably re-inventing herpes virus or something as nice again...
That's all folks!
PS The dingo, did I mention the dingo that has been living in the paddock about 20m from the house. Me, not amused. In the paddock with Paz and her foal, Lexie, this morning - dive bombed by the plovers and then chased by Bartie......I'm sure its not aware of biosecurity and it sure is coming from Brian's place. Have rung the BCC liaison person about it. Will post a pic here.
Keema 37.6
Noah 37.7
Paz 37.9
Am 37.7
Frontier 38.3 (Back down to a more Frontier-like temp)
Bart 37.9
Lucky 37.9
All eating, drinking & generally running amok. No coughing.....No EI.....Wondering whether I should do an Equine Performance Profile on Frontier......maybe not....just probably re-inventing herpes virus or something as nice again...
That's all folks!
PS The dingo, did I mention the dingo that has been living in the paddock about 20m from the house. Me, not amused. In the paddock with Paz and her foal, Lexie, this morning - dive bombed by the plovers and then chased by Bartie......I'm sure its not aware of biosecurity and it sure is coming from Brian's place. Have rung the BCC liaison person about it. Will post a pic here.
Qld Positive Meeting with Qld Premier - Qld Performance & Pleasure Horse Industry
Tuesday 23rd October 2007.
Today Dr Ricky MacMillan- Dual Olympian and one of Queensland's most successful female equestrians, Dr David Lovell- leading Equine Veterinary Practitioner & proprietor of Redland Veterinary Clinic, and Mr Peter Toft-International Endurance Competitor, Breeder & Exporter, were invited to meet the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh & senior advisors to discuss the Equine Influenza Crisis and its impact on the entire horse industry.
The focus of the meeting was on returning the Performance & Pleasure Horse Industry to normal activities in line with the Racing sector of the Horse Industry. The following principles were the basis of discussion.
Managing the Welfare of the Horse
Getting the Industry back to work
Eradication of the disease
What is clear is the Queensland Governments' genuine commitment to supporting the entire Horse Industry throughout this crisis. The Premier gave us the opportunity to present our concerns, including the need for timelines for industry security, and our requirements for the urgent vaccination of our horses. We advised the Premier of our request to the Commonwealth for the vaccination of sixty thousand horses so our mares can go to stud, our competition horses can resume training and our myriad micro industries canstart up again.
We also discussed the option of the use of 'Kill Vaccine's to complement the limited supply of 'Live Vaccine's. Premier Anna Bligh acknowledged that our team is well placed to represent Pony Clubs, Olympians, parents of horse mad kids, Commercial Operators, Breeders, Sporting Disciplines & Industry Service Providers, as well as the many back yard grass eaters.
She now understands the wide spread and diverse effect Equine Influenza is having on Queenslanders. Respecting that the EI crisis is controlled by the Commonwealth, under a National Management Group, Premier Anna Bligh will urgently be writing to the Prime Minister John Howard to put forward our case for support of the mass vaccination of Performance & Pleasure horses. Vaccinating in line with a priority plan, including stud horses from all breeds in the affected area of Queensland, with the clear mandate to get our industry going in the shortest possible time, there by salvaging the second half of our breeding season.
What we can advise, is that the concerns of our industry are understood by the State Government and we are confident that they will continue to work to minimise the impact of this disaster on our industry. It is clear now, having asked Premier Bligh for support, we must reciprocate and continue to act as a responsible united industry. The Performance andPleasure Horse Group will continue to work with the Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries over the coming weeks to facilitate our strategies to get us back on track.
Please visit the DPI Website for regular updates & follow the Bio security procedures outlined there. I would like to acknowledge Wayne Wendt MP for Ipswich West for facilitating and his input to this meeting.
We want to set achievable goals:
Our Goal: Our industry up & running before Christmas.
But until then, we have no reason to celebrate until our horses can move & people can reclaim their livelihoods & lifestyles.
Peter Toft
Chair- QLD Performance and Pleasure Horse Industry Group
Today Dr Ricky MacMillan- Dual Olympian and one of Queensland's most successful female equestrians, Dr David Lovell- leading Equine Veterinary Practitioner & proprietor of Redland Veterinary Clinic, and Mr Peter Toft-International Endurance Competitor, Breeder & Exporter, were invited to meet the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh & senior advisors to discuss the Equine Influenza Crisis and its impact on the entire horse industry.
The focus of the meeting was on returning the Performance & Pleasure Horse Industry to normal activities in line with the Racing sector of the Horse Industry. The following principles were the basis of discussion.
Managing the Welfare of the Horse
Getting the Industry back to work
Eradication of the disease
What is clear is the Queensland Governments' genuine commitment to supporting the entire Horse Industry throughout this crisis. The Premier gave us the opportunity to present our concerns, including the need for timelines for industry security, and our requirements for the urgent vaccination of our horses. We advised the Premier of our request to the Commonwealth for the vaccination of sixty thousand horses so our mares can go to stud, our competition horses can resume training and our myriad micro industries canstart up again.
We also discussed the option of the use of 'Kill Vaccine's to complement the limited supply of 'Live Vaccine's. Premier Anna Bligh acknowledged that our team is well placed to represent Pony Clubs, Olympians, parents of horse mad kids, Commercial Operators, Breeders, Sporting Disciplines & Industry Service Providers, as well as the many back yard grass eaters.
She now understands the wide spread and diverse effect Equine Influenza is having on Queenslanders. Respecting that the EI crisis is controlled by the Commonwealth, under a National Management Group, Premier Anna Bligh will urgently be writing to the Prime Minister John Howard to put forward our case for support of the mass vaccination of Performance & Pleasure horses. Vaccinating in line with a priority plan, including stud horses from all breeds in the affected area of Queensland, with the clear mandate to get our industry going in the shortest possible time, there by salvaging the second half of our breeding season.
What we can advise, is that the concerns of our industry are understood by the State Government and we are confident that they will continue to work to minimise the impact of this disaster on our industry. It is clear now, having asked Premier Bligh for support, we must reciprocate and continue to act as a responsible united industry. The Performance andPleasure Horse Group will continue to work with the Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries over the coming weeks to facilitate our strategies to get us back on track.
Please visit the DPI Website for regular updates & follow the Bio security procedures outlined there. I would like to acknowledge Wayne Wendt MP for Ipswich West for facilitating and his input to this meeting.
We want to set achievable goals:
Our Goal: Our industry up & running before Christmas.
But until then, we have no reason to celebrate until our horses can move & people can reclaim their livelihoods & lifestyles.
Peter Toft
Chair- QLD Performance and Pleasure Horse Industry Group
Frontier & Bartie Friday AM Check
Crisp and clear this morning, had a few mm of rain overnight which freshened things up a little. Marty kept the two 2yo geldings in for me to check. Frontier 38.8 and Bart 38.0 So Frontier still up but to look at is fine, though coat a little off. But his old (shedding) coat that is trying (refusing) to fall out. Couldn't stimulate a tracheal response (i.e. cough in response to palpation of larynx) - nothing. There was the smallest bit of cream goo in RHS nostril, but Frontier has been prone to do that every now and then to the point that I wondered if he had a guttoral pouch problem at one stage (on that same side). So am wondering if he's trying to "hatch" the flu - but STILL no cough! Or anything really definitive. I have to keep reminding myself that there are other "things" about that they get affected by...... Watched them canter off briskly up the paddock - no coughing. If I wasn't taking temps I'd be none the wiser. Certainly only seems to be the pair of geldings, and Bartie very marginally (no temp really to speak) not spreading through the other horses unless subtle increases in their temps are the key and nothing too abnormal since the start of temp taking in that....... Maybe I'll take all the Buchanan paddock this evening if I can catch the other two girls!
Thurs - a week since vaccination!
Phew! Though of course Frontier rose to the ocassion and actually spiked a significant temp tonight (as if on cue) Still no sign of it in the rest of the neighbourhood. Ballantyne's ponies look fab. Spoke to Dennis S today and everyone else seems fine. Though Jean did ring and ask if Ballantyne's had the flu b/c Viv Crombie said they'd had it for a while now. Not sure where that rumour came from ???
Keema 37.6
Noah 37.6
Paz 38
Amazzon 37.6
Frontier 39.6! (Not sure about him. All the others in the paddock look fine. No nasal anything and no coughs anywhere.)
Bart 38
Lucky 38
Still no coughing, all foals going about at a million miles an hour. No sign of any nasal discharge except for some normal serous drip occ. Everyone fanging for food. Flies are really sticky and really really annoying. Take temp of 2yos in the morning.
Keema 37.6
Noah 37.6
Paz 38
Amazzon 37.6
Frontier 39.6! (Not sure about him. All the others in the paddock look fine. No nasal anything and no coughs anywhere.)
Bart 38
Lucky 38
Still no coughing, all foals going about at a million miles an hour. No sign of any nasal discharge except for some normal serous drip occ. Everyone fanging for food. Flies are really sticky and really really annoying. Take temp of 2yos in the morning.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Equine Vet Max Wilson's View on EI
OCTOBER NEWSLETTER #2 22/10/07
What a mess we find ourselves in with this damned Equine Influenza! Containment is working is all we hear from our industry representatives! Clearly it is not!!
I have been proud to be associated with the Thoroughbred industry on the Darling Downs for over 30 years. During that period we have proudly watched our industry transform itself in the eyes of the public & our southern counterparts from a poor second cousin to the vibrant industry it was in August with our Queensland studs leading the nation with the highest averages & performances for their progeny.
Where are we now, just 2 months later? Back as the almost forgotten second cousins from Hicksville! In all probability, Queensland may not have a single yearling which will qualify for the premier yearling sales in 2009 because wehave not been allowed to put our best mares to the best stallions. Make no mistake; this is not an Equine Influenza problem. It is a problem of bureaucracy & politics!
NSW has EI too but it is still breeding mares without restriction. Its studs will still be presenting quality yearlings in 2009! It is appalling the way greed & self interest have governed our pathetic efforts at control in Qld. The ridiculous extremes that elements of our industry have gone to in an attempt to stop our top Qld mares getting to the top NSW stallions are unbelievable. The zenith of their efforts was the recent ruling that only unvaccinated horses could cross the border; vaccinated horses would have to wait another week! What bloody idiot dreamt that one up?
While we are on the subject of movement, what is happening with our movement permits? We have been waiting for almost 2 weeks for the promised lifting of the movement restrictions. Nothing has been announced. Instead we have the studs putting their own restrictions on mares coming to their studs. Ten days or 2weeks after vaccination makes sense but shouldn’t that ruling have come from our DPI representatives? Our previously infected studs have been left totally in the dark as to when they can recommence accepting outside mares. They have been left to just quietly go broke & ask no questions - not good enough for Qld’s second largest industry!
Again on the subject of movement, we were expecting a stallion from Gympie (uninfected and within the red zone) to come to our Equine Breeding Centre at Southbrook (also uninfected and within the red zone). Permits were refused but were issued for the stallion to travel via the Darling Downs to Tamworth in the height of the infected area. He is unvaccinated. Makes sense ah?!!
The whole eradication campaign has been shockingly mismanaged. It would be laughable if it were not so economically disastrous for so many of us. (We have 6 mares at our Equine Breeding Centre when we would normally have over 60 & this is being repeated all over the Downs.) Studs like Wattlebrae which have invested huge amounts on new stallions have had the legs cut out from under them & thousands of smaller horse lovers have lost their lifestyle all together.
We should have vaccinated much earlier instead of racing around the country now with vaccine trying to stay ahead of the disease & often failing. Thousands of dollars have been wasted on vaccinating horses that had no chance of getting protection before the virus struck. We should have opened up movement between the infected areas as they did in NSW so that people could breed their mares. Love him or loathe him (Like Johnnie Howard), John Messara got things moving in NSW. We have no equivalent in Qld.
The AUSVETPLAN may have been well conceived but it was always doomed to failure when the disease struck at the start of the breeding season. Now we find ourselves in the worst possible situation. We have sent people tothe wall trying to stop this infection by stopping movement (& breeding) & we have failed. We have been forced to move onto vaccination but we have failed again because we have done too little too late - closing the stable doors six weeks after the horse has escaped! We have the ludicrous situation where Throughbred horses can move & be vaccinated but pleasure horses cannot. All that this will achieve will be to slow the rate of spread of the disease & increase the antagonism between theindustry groups when it is most important that we all pull together.
Unless we vaccinate everything or almost everything, the disease will just continue to slowly spread amongst the unvaccinated horse population. We may well find ourselves still in the same position at the start of the next breeding season. We are in real danger of not being able to get our Qld yearlings to the national yearling sales next year. Mark my words - unless we make some changes, these stupid movement restrictions will still be in place this time next year!
We have to vaccinate everything; we have to make it compulsory & if it is goingto be compulsory, we have to make it free! Nothing else will work now his would not have been necessary if we had vaccinated earlier. We cannot expect our pleasure horse industry to tolerate the inequitable position they find themselves in at present. No movement & no vaccinations! Fortunately they now have a representative body of their own (Queensland Performance & Pleasure Horse Industry) which will allow them to lobby more effectively.
If ever there was evidence of the effectiveness of a good industrybody, it is the Harness Racing Board. The Trotting mares were the first broodmares vaccinated in Qld; well ahead of the expensive Thoroughbreds. It is easy for me to be so critical after the fact but I have consistently spoken against the effectiveness of trying to impose movement restrictions at the start of a breeding season & I have been calling for vaccination since the start of the epidemic.
Saying “I told you so” will achieve nothing! Nothing will give us back our breeding season or the livelihood we have lost. All we can hope for now is damage control.We must get rid of this disease & get our industries moving again in the minimum of time & with the minimum amount of further money & lifestyle loss. There is only one way to do that now - vaccination of everything & as soon as possible & not at our expense!
What a mess we find ourselves in with this damned Equine Influenza! Containment is working is all we hear from our industry representatives! Clearly it is not!!
I have been proud to be associated with the Thoroughbred industry on the Darling Downs for over 30 years. During that period we have proudly watched our industry transform itself in the eyes of the public & our southern counterparts from a poor second cousin to the vibrant industry it was in August with our Queensland studs leading the nation with the highest averages & performances for their progeny.
Where are we now, just 2 months later? Back as the almost forgotten second cousins from Hicksville! In all probability, Queensland may not have a single yearling which will qualify for the premier yearling sales in 2009 because wehave not been allowed to put our best mares to the best stallions. Make no mistake; this is not an Equine Influenza problem. It is a problem of bureaucracy & politics!
NSW has EI too but it is still breeding mares without restriction. Its studs will still be presenting quality yearlings in 2009! It is appalling the way greed & self interest have governed our pathetic efforts at control in Qld. The ridiculous extremes that elements of our industry have gone to in an attempt to stop our top Qld mares getting to the top NSW stallions are unbelievable. The zenith of their efforts was the recent ruling that only unvaccinated horses could cross the border; vaccinated horses would have to wait another week! What bloody idiot dreamt that one up?
While we are on the subject of movement, what is happening with our movement permits? We have been waiting for almost 2 weeks for the promised lifting of the movement restrictions. Nothing has been announced. Instead we have the studs putting their own restrictions on mares coming to their studs. Ten days or 2weeks after vaccination makes sense but shouldn’t that ruling have come from our DPI representatives? Our previously infected studs have been left totally in the dark as to when they can recommence accepting outside mares. They have been left to just quietly go broke & ask no questions - not good enough for Qld’s second largest industry!
Again on the subject of movement, we were expecting a stallion from Gympie (uninfected and within the red zone) to come to our Equine Breeding Centre at Southbrook (also uninfected and within the red zone). Permits were refused but were issued for the stallion to travel via the Darling Downs to Tamworth in the height of the infected area. He is unvaccinated. Makes sense ah?!!
The whole eradication campaign has been shockingly mismanaged. It would be laughable if it were not so economically disastrous for so many of us. (We have 6 mares at our Equine Breeding Centre when we would normally have over 60 & this is being repeated all over the Downs.) Studs like Wattlebrae which have invested huge amounts on new stallions have had the legs cut out from under them & thousands of smaller horse lovers have lost their lifestyle all together.
We should have vaccinated much earlier instead of racing around the country now with vaccine trying to stay ahead of the disease & often failing. Thousands of dollars have been wasted on vaccinating horses that had no chance of getting protection before the virus struck. We should have opened up movement between the infected areas as they did in NSW so that people could breed their mares. Love him or loathe him (Like Johnnie Howard), John Messara got things moving in NSW. We have no equivalent in Qld.
The AUSVETPLAN may have been well conceived but it was always doomed to failure when the disease struck at the start of the breeding season. Now we find ourselves in the worst possible situation. We have sent people tothe wall trying to stop this infection by stopping movement (& breeding) & we have failed. We have been forced to move onto vaccination but we have failed again because we have done too little too late - closing the stable doors six weeks after the horse has escaped! We have the ludicrous situation where Throughbred horses can move & be vaccinated but pleasure horses cannot. All that this will achieve will be to slow the rate of spread of the disease & increase the antagonism between theindustry groups when it is most important that we all pull together.
Unless we vaccinate everything or almost everything, the disease will just continue to slowly spread amongst the unvaccinated horse population. We may well find ourselves still in the same position at the start of the next breeding season. We are in real danger of not being able to get our Qld yearlings to the national yearling sales next year. Mark my words - unless we make some changes, these stupid movement restrictions will still be in place this time next year!
We have to vaccinate everything; we have to make it compulsory & if it is goingto be compulsory, we have to make it free! Nothing else will work now his would not have been necessary if we had vaccinated earlier. We cannot expect our pleasure horse industry to tolerate the inequitable position they find themselves in at present. No movement & no vaccinations! Fortunately they now have a representative body of their own (Queensland Performance & Pleasure Horse Industry) which will allow them to lobby more effectively.
If ever there was evidence of the effectiveness of a good industrybody, it is the Harness Racing Board. The Trotting mares were the first broodmares vaccinated in Qld; well ahead of the expensive Thoroughbreds. It is easy for me to be so critical after the fact but I have consistently spoken against the effectiveness of trying to impose movement restrictions at the start of a breeding season & I have been calling for vaccination since the start of the epidemic.
Saying “I told you so” will achieve nothing! Nothing will give us back our breeding season or the livelihood we have lost. All we can hope for now is damage control.We must get rid of this disease & get our industries moving again in the minimum of time & with the minimum amount of further money & lifestyle loss. There is only one way to do that now - vaccination of everything & as soon as possible & not at our expense!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wednesday Pm
Well, nearly a week today. The flies are giving the horses hell, lots of weepy eyes but not any signs of the flu.
Keema 37.6
Noah 37.9
Paz 38.25
Amazzon 38.6
Frontier 38.25
Bart 38
Lucky 37.6
Keema 37.6
Noah 37.9
Paz 38.25
Amazzon 38.6
Frontier 38.25
Bart 38
Lucky 37.6
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Equine Influenza Update from the DPI&F Qld
(Released 23 October, 2007)
Equine influenza update from the DPI&F
By Dr Ron Glanville
Chief Veterinary Officer
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
For more information on items in this column go to www.dpi.qld.gov.au/equine-influenza
NEW INNER BUFFER ZONES
Progress in the outer buffer zone has progressed very well with more than 95% of horses vaccinated in the Goondiwindi section. The Gympie section is about 70% complete, while the Chinchilla, Yarromine, Tweed and Granite belt sections are about 50-60% complete.
DPI&F is releasing the details of strategic inner buffers to reduce the likelihood of any spread to Sunshine Coast area in the north of the red zone. The initial Sunshine Coast inner buffer will link to further inner buffer zones planned to run from Inglewood in the west, through Crows Nest and Esk districts. The buffer zones are generally 10km wide with some expectations in the Toowoomba region.
This will effectively split the red zone in two with the aim to contain the disease in the south east corner of the red zone.
Approximately 27,000 vials of vaccine have been dispensed to veterinarians for use in the buffer zone, for performance horses or for the racing and harness industries.
525,000
DOSES ORDERED IN TOTAL
Australia has placed additional orders for vaccine, taking the total to 525,000 doses. While this sounds like a substantial amount, with each horse requiring three doses of vaccines over the first six months this equates to only an extra 120,000 horses that can be vaccinated Australia wide. The number of doses going to each state and where it is used is determined by the National Management Group (NMG) which consists of the CEOs Commonwealth and State Departments of Agriculture, Horse Peak Industry bodies, and the CEO of CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory.
PERFORMANCE AND PLEASURE HORSE INDUSTRY
The new Performance and Pleasure Horse Industry has been working closely with the Queensland Government. Key areas of immediate focus are the determination of vaccination and movement priorities as well as investigating:
Demographics of the industry
Financial support programs
Recovery planning and strategies
Industry confidence and welfare
Communications to the industry
DISPLAY YOUR HORSE SIGNS
A sign alerting people that they are entering a horse property is now available from DPI&F.
The newly formed Performance and Pleasure Horse Industry has thrown its support behind the project, encouraging all industry members, from Olympians to pony club participants, to play their part and display the new sign that aims to enhance biosecurity.
Designed by DPI&F, the signs were developed after horse owners voiced concerns that representatives of utility companies, charity groups, delivery drivers, trades people, religious groups, and others could be carrying the disease by visiting various horse properties without taking proper biosecurity precautions.
These free signs are available from local DPI&F Equine Influenza Community Resource Centres or can be downloaded from the department’s website.
In an effort to stop the spread of the disease, visitors to properties should gain permission from the owner before entering the property and follow strict hygiene procedures.
HORSE REGISTRATION
All horse owners or operators of horse businesses are reminded that it is a legal requirement to register the ‘place’ or location of their horse and contact details. The regulation provides a time period for notifying the DPI&F of 14 days from the time the ownership or management of a horse changes. This includes the change of ownership details of land parcels where horse are kept that are sold or purchased.
Please register the location of your horse at: www.dpi.qld.gov.au/horse-registration
If you don’t have internet access you can register by calling 13 25 23 or your local DPI&F office.
More information: Web - Go to: www.dpi.qld.gov.au/equine-influenza for the full details.
Email – subscribe to the DPI&F Horse and newsletter registration page
In Person - contact your local Equine Influenza Community Resource Centre Phone – call 132523
Equine influenza update from the DPI&F
By Dr Ron Glanville
Chief Veterinary Officer
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
For more information on items in this column go to www.dpi.qld.gov.au/equine-influenza
NEW INNER BUFFER ZONES
Progress in the outer buffer zone has progressed very well with more than 95% of horses vaccinated in the Goondiwindi section. The Gympie section is about 70% complete, while the Chinchilla, Yarromine, Tweed and Granite belt sections are about 50-60% complete.
DPI&F is releasing the details of strategic inner buffers to reduce the likelihood of any spread to Sunshine Coast area in the north of the red zone. The initial Sunshine Coast inner buffer will link to further inner buffer zones planned to run from Inglewood in the west, through Crows Nest and Esk districts. The buffer zones are generally 10km wide with some expectations in the Toowoomba region.
This will effectively split the red zone in two with the aim to contain the disease in the south east corner of the red zone.
Approximately 27,000 vials of vaccine have been dispensed to veterinarians for use in the buffer zone, for performance horses or for the racing and harness industries.
525,000
DOSES ORDERED IN TOTAL
Australia has placed additional orders for vaccine, taking the total to 525,000 doses. While this sounds like a substantial amount, with each horse requiring three doses of vaccines over the first six months this equates to only an extra 120,000 horses that can be vaccinated Australia wide. The number of doses going to each state and where it is used is determined by the National Management Group (NMG) which consists of the CEOs Commonwealth and State Departments of Agriculture, Horse Peak Industry bodies, and the CEO of CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory.
PERFORMANCE AND PLEASURE HORSE INDUSTRY
The new Performance and Pleasure Horse Industry has been working closely with the Queensland Government. Key areas of immediate focus are the determination of vaccination and movement priorities as well as investigating:
Demographics of the industry
Financial support programs
Recovery planning and strategies
Industry confidence and welfare
Communications to the industry
DISPLAY YOUR HORSE SIGNS
A sign alerting people that they are entering a horse property is now available from DPI&F.
The newly formed Performance and Pleasure Horse Industry has thrown its support behind the project, encouraging all industry members, from Olympians to pony club participants, to play their part and display the new sign that aims to enhance biosecurity.
Designed by DPI&F, the signs were developed after horse owners voiced concerns that representatives of utility companies, charity groups, delivery drivers, trades people, religious groups, and others could be carrying the disease by visiting various horse properties without taking proper biosecurity precautions.
These free signs are available from local DPI&F Equine Influenza Community Resource Centres or can be downloaded from the department’s website.
In an effort to stop the spread of the disease, visitors to properties should gain permission from the owner before entering the property and follow strict hygiene procedures.
HORSE REGISTRATION
All horse owners or operators of horse businesses are reminded that it is a legal requirement to register the ‘place’ or location of their horse and contact details. The regulation provides a time period for notifying the DPI&F of 14 days from the time the ownership or management of a horse changes. This includes the change of ownership details of land parcels where horse are kept that are sold or purchased.
Please register the location of your horse at: www.dpi.qld.gov.au/horse-registration
If you don’t have internet access you can register by calling 13 25 23 or your local DPI&F office.
More information: Web - Go to: www.dpi.qld.gov.au/equine-influenza for the full details.
Email – subscribe to the DPI&F Horse and newsletter registration page
In Person - contact your local Equine Influenza Community Resource Centre Phone – call 132523
Poem - Horse Flu - Not JUST!
Horse Flu - Not JUST......
I'm not just.....
a rich man's trinket to fulfil a greedy goal,
I am more - much more - to many.
I'm Australia's heart and soul.
I'm companion, partner, soul mate;
I'm desires beyond just dreams.
I am overcoming hardships;
I'm life's lessons in extremes.
Once my shoulders bore the burden
of the plough to plant the seed
that would grow the golden wheat fields
to fulfil this nation's need.
And I laid the precious bore drains
giving lifeblood to this earth;
as I forged the great traditions
then, that gave this country birth.
I have borne your sons to battle,
heard their brief emblazoned cry,
seen the futile, reckless slaughter,
shared the mothers' anguished "Why?"
I helped you tame this wilderness
- hauled, carted, did your will.
Used, abused and treated lightly,
yet I am your servant still.
I have brought you pride and glory
and a wealth you couldn't measure.
and a heritage and history
in a partnership to treasure.
Every sport that you've invented,
(oft' with consequences grim),
still I've jumped and turned and twisted
as I've met your every whim.
I have taught your children caring,
how to put another first,
to take the falls and try again
and cope with best and worst.
I've kept your daughters off the streets
and on the straight and narrow.
I've put my heart in all I've done
- and thrilled you to the marrow.
And yet you turn your back on me
in this - my hour of need.
All you think of is your losses
in your all-consuming greed.
Won't you listen to my pleadings
for the horseman of this land?
This will change their life forever.
Won't you try to understand?
For E.I.'s the nine eleven
that will change life as we know it.
The effects are catastrophic,
though the media don't show it.
There are hordes of Aussie battlers
who'll go under in this strife
and they'll lose much more than money.
They will lose their way of life.
I am what makes life worth living.
I'm their every waking thought.
I am what they go without for
and that just can not be bought.
Whether hobby, sport or business,
through the fires and drought and flood,
I'm the way of life they've chosen
that is deep within their blood.
We have known the devastation
when a farmer loses all.
Horsemen follow in their footsteps
with their backs close to the wall.
There's a rumbling now, of anger -
and horse people are not meek.
Will they sink in deep depression?
Will they turn the other cheek?
You have caused this thing to happen,
cutting corners with your greed.
Quarantine laws bent to suit you,
consequences guaranteed.
And so now, I pay the price
for your decisions made in haste.
Yet again I am surrounded
by the suffering and the waste.
Once more greed clouds your judgement,
with your selfish 'purple zone',
throwing caution to the winds
withyour indulgence overblown.
Do you care about us really?
Now that pride's before the fall?
Do you really want to help this?O
r do dollars say it all?
We can't stop this raging virus;
all we ask is justice metered.
Let not the vested interests
dictate how this should be treated.
Demand consideration for
the Racehorse AND the scrubber.
Vet. treatment shouldn't be denied
a much loved Pony Clubber.
I sympathise with milliners,
and with trainers. Yes, I'm trying.
But it pales in insignificance
when cherished friend is dying.
No, I'm not just.....
a rich man's trinket to fulfil a selfish goal.
I am Horse. I am your brother.
I'm Australia's heart and soul.
copyright to Carol Heuchan 07
I'm not just.....
a rich man's trinket to fulfil a greedy goal,
I am more - much more - to many.
I'm Australia's heart and soul.
I'm companion, partner, soul mate;
I'm desires beyond just dreams.
I am overcoming hardships;
I'm life's lessons in extremes.
Once my shoulders bore the burden
of the plough to plant the seed
that would grow the golden wheat fields
to fulfil this nation's need.
And I laid the precious bore drains
giving lifeblood to this earth;
as I forged the great traditions
then, that gave this country birth.
I have borne your sons to battle,
heard their brief emblazoned cry,
seen the futile, reckless slaughter,
shared the mothers' anguished "Why?"
I helped you tame this wilderness
- hauled, carted, did your will.
Used, abused and treated lightly,
yet I am your servant still.
I have brought you pride and glory
and a wealth you couldn't measure.
and a heritage and history
in a partnership to treasure.
Every sport that you've invented,
(oft' with consequences grim),
still I've jumped and turned and twisted
as I've met your every whim.
I have taught your children caring,
how to put another first,
to take the falls and try again
and cope with best and worst.
I've kept your daughters off the streets
and on the straight and narrow.
I've put my heart in all I've done
- and thrilled you to the marrow.
And yet you turn your back on me
in this - my hour of need.
All you think of is your losses
in your all-consuming greed.
Won't you listen to my pleadings
for the horseman of this land?
This will change their life forever.
Won't you try to understand?
For E.I.'s the nine eleven
that will change life as we know it.
The effects are catastrophic,
though the media don't show it.
There are hordes of Aussie battlers
who'll go under in this strife
and they'll lose much more than money.
They will lose their way of life.
I am what makes life worth living.
I'm their every waking thought.
I am what they go without for
and that just can not be bought.
Whether hobby, sport or business,
through the fires and drought and flood,
I'm the way of life they've chosen
that is deep within their blood.
We have known the devastation
when a farmer loses all.
Horsemen follow in their footsteps
with their backs close to the wall.
There's a rumbling now, of anger -
and horse people are not meek.
Will they sink in deep depression?
Will they turn the other cheek?
You have caused this thing to happen,
cutting corners with your greed.
Quarantine laws bent to suit you,
consequences guaranteed.
And so now, I pay the price
for your decisions made in haste.
Yet again I am surrounded
by the suffering and the waste.
Once more greed clouds your judgement,
with your selfish 'purple zone',
throwing caution to the winds
withyour indulgence overblown.
Do you care about us really?
Now that pride's before the fall?
Do you really want to help this?O
r do dollars say it all?
We can't stop this raging virus;
all we ask is justice metered.
Let not the vested interests
dictate how this should be treated.
Demand consideration for
the Racehorse AND the scrubber.
Vet. treatment shouldn't be denied
a much loved Pony Clubber.
I sympathise with milliners,
and with trainers. Yes, I'm trying.
But it pales in insignificance
when cherished friend is dying.
No, I'm not just.....
a rich man's trinket to fulfil a selfish goal.
I am Horse. I am your brother.
I'm Australia's heart and soul.
copyright to Carol Heuchan 07
Tuesday at Kholo
Well, that's five days since vaccination. I'm almost starting to feel a little safe, though these horses are keeping me on my toes. Temps tonight were reassuring and not a tell-tale cough among them. Not sure about Buchanan's paddock, definitely a bit of a peak to Frontier?, particularly Bart, maybe Femme....... but possible something else.....I probably should run and equine performance profile on Femme, she looks a tad depressed, but otherwise ok. She's been not 100% since before EI arrived, for about 3 months now. Then she did a nasty cough and temp......
Keema 38.2 (cross and was pacing b/c dinner was late)
Noah 37.8 (had run about a bit with Bailey just prior)
Paz 37.9 (went nuts b/c I moved Keema b4 feeding her, derrrr....)
Amazzon 37.6 (completely normal temp for her)
Bart 38.1 (down from 38.5, looking bright enough, fanging for food & no cough)
Frontier 38.3 (same as last three nights, bit too high for him, but nothing else of any note, could count as normal since his normal temp is only .2 below)
Lucky 37.9 (possibly little bit high for Luck, but has been variable within a degree at this time, so nothing odd.)
No coughs, snotty noses among them. All sprinting for food. No EI here yet.
Keema 38.2 (cross and was pacing b/c dinner was late)
Noah 37.8 (had run about a bit with Bailey just prior)
Paz 37.9 (went nuts b/c I moved Keema b4 feeding her, derrrr....)
Amazzon 37.6 (completely normal temp for her)
Bart 38.1 (down from 38.5, looking bright enough, fanging for food & no cough)
Frontier 38.3 (same as last three nights, bit too high for him, but nothing else of any note, could count as normal since his normal temp is only .2 below)
Lucky 37.9 (possibly little bit high for Luck, but has been variable within a degree at this time, so nothing odd.)
No coughs, snotty noses among them. All sprinting for food. No EI here yet.
Rod Hoare's version of "EI Eradication"
"EI eradication" - from Cyberhorse - Rod Hoare NSW DPI
From Day 1 the authorities have stated that they are working towards eradication of EI. This posting is a review of how this process is working.
Many cynics declare that Europe and America have not been able to eradicate it but others point out that South Africa and India have eradicated the disease.
Why can’t we? What are our chances?
We had some initial problems:
• the initial spread of infection prior to standstill was very widespread and into densely populated areas
• no vaccine supplies were on hand, no approvals were available, vaccines would be a month coming. Sending investigation teams out was like sending a fire brigade teams on foot with wet sacks, when we needed tankers with pumps and hoses
• we did not know how the disease would spread under Australian conditions
• The disease came at the worst time of the year – just before breeding season, just before foaling, in cool weather, etc. Spread from property to property occurred in the cool morning mists up to about 3 km.
We had some advantages:
• The DPI was well trained in emergency response and did respond quickly
• There was an AUSVETPLAN for EI
• We had an excellent test (PCR test for presence of virus) and a capacity to test up to 1,000 samples overnight.
• The new generation of vaccines produces effective immunity against the strain in Australia after the first injection
So how is this working?
• The geographic area of Australia affected by equine influenza has not changed much in the past 6 weeks,
• There have been three new “spot fires” in the green zone but these have now been contained with vaccination buffers
• Now that adequate vaccine supplies are available it is possible to respond more quickly and effectively to put out the spot fire situations.
• Vaccine supplies are still limited. Sending vaccine to uninfected states is like sending water tankers away from the fire front – vaccine priority is where the disease is likely to occur.
• The daily number of new infected properties is much less than what it was mid September
• The great majority of infections are occurring in previously infected areas and within vaccination buffers.
• A small proportion of Australia's horses have been exposed to EI virus - less than 10% of the total horse population
• More horses are becoming immune to EI daily after recovering from EI infection or to the effects of vaccination
• The first round of EI vaccinations in the buffer zones in NSW is more than 70% complete
• The boundaries of some of the red and amber interfaces in NSW are to be replaced by amber and green zones respectively.
• The plan is to have all high risk horses in the NSW purple zone immune to EI due to infection or vaccination by 30 November 2007
• Scenario analysis indicates that the epizootic is running below the mid-range prediction curve, and well below the worst case curve
• The best guess prediction is that EI will be eradicated by 30 June 2008
• Eradication will depend on compliance with personal biosecurity.
The conclusion is that eradication is well on track and remains the number one priority.
From Day 1 the authorities have stated that they are working towards eradication of EI. This posting is a review of how this process is working.
Many cynics declare that Europe and America have not been able to eradicate it but others point out that South Africa and India have eradicated the disease.
Why can’t we? What are our chances?
We had some initial problems:
• the initial spread of infection prior to standstill was very widespread and into densely populated areas
• no vaccine supplies were on hand, no approvals were available, vaccines would be a month coming. Sending investigation teams out was like sending a fire brigade teams on foot with wet sacks, when we needed tankers with pumps and hoses
• we did not know how the disease would spread under Australian conditions
• The disease came at the worst time of the year – just before breeding season, just before foaling, in cool weather, etc. Spread from property to property occurred in the cool morning mists up to about 3 km.
We had some advantages:
• The DPI was well trained in emergency response and did respond quickly
• There was an AUSVETPLAN for EI
• We had an excellent test (PCR test for presence of virus) and a capacity to test up to 1,000 samples overnight.
• The new generation of vaccines produces effective immunity against the strain in Australia after the first injection
So how is this working?
• The geographic area of Australia affected by equine influenza has not changed much in the past 6 weeks,
• There have been three new “spot fires” in the green zone but these have now been contained with vaccination buffers
• Now that adequate vaccine supplies are available it is possible to respond more quickly and effectively to put out the spot fire situations.
• Vaccine supplies are still limited. Sending vaccine to uninfected states is like sending water tankers away from the fire front – vaccine priority is where the disease is likely to occur.
• The daily number of new infected properties is much less than what it was mid September
• The great majority of infections are occurring in previously infected areas and within vaccination buffers.
• A small proportion of Australia's horses have been exposed to EI virus - less than 10% of the total horse population
• More horses are becoming immune to EI daily after recovering from EI infection or to the effects of vaccination
• The first round of EI vaccinations in the buffer zones in NSW is more than 70% complete
• The boundaries of some of the red and amber interfaces in NSW are to be replaced by amber and green zones respectively.
• The plan is to have all high risk horses in the NSW purple zone immune to EI due to infection or vaccination by 30 November 2007
• Scenario analysis indicates that the epizootic is running below the mid-range prediction curve, and well below the worst case curve
• The best guess prediction is that EI will be eradicated by 30 June 2008
• Eradication will depend on compliance with personal biosecurity.
The conclusion is that eradication is well on track and remains the number one priority.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday......at Kholo!
Well, not sure really...... all seems well Frontier temped 37.5 this morning which seems very normal.
This arvo
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.8 (was running about)
Paz 38.1
Am 37.7
Frontier 38.3 (same as last night, no different, no coughing etc)
Bartie 38.5 (I would have said a bit high; looked a bit dry in the coat and a bit sooky, very much looking for food)
Lucky 38
No coughing anywhere; though you could argue that a few have had serous nasal discharge over the last few days....though nothing snotty. Also weather has been changeable and ordinarily would think all that is happening is very normal.
This arvo
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.8 (was running about)
Paz 38.1
Am 37.7
Frontier 38.3 (same as last night, no different, no coughing etc)
Bartie 38.5 (I would have said a bit high; looked a bit dry in the coat and a bit sooky, very much looking for food)
Lucky 38
No coughing anywhere; though you could argue that a few have had serous nasal discharge over the last few days....though nothing snotty. Also weather has been changeable and ordinarily would think all that is happening is very normal.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday Report
This morning did the yearlings - hoof trimming - and weren't they way above themselves. No coughing, but some did have nasal drip. Though weather been cool at night and very changeable, predisposing to the normal run of the mill "bugs".
Jolie particularly hard to catch and touchy. Boz getting way too good for himself. Abi - way too big. Seth was good. Measured them and gave them all a dose of Haemaplex. Also trimmed Lucky and sedated her (very lightly) to do her teeth. Have thought her teeth were an issue for some time, as she doesn't cope with barley hay very well at all.
Temps this evening:
Keema 37.5
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.8
Am 37.6
Frontier 38.4 (up noticeably, but not technically a temp, though coat lack lustre, still fanging for food and no cough/nasal discharge to speak, been grazing all day. Will see tomorrow. Does have a tendency to be higher than others.)
Bart 38
Lucky 37.6
Ambient temp here today very mild about 25 again. Very dry, desperate for some rain.
Jolie particularly hard to catch and touchy. Boz getting way too good for himself. Abi - way too big. Seth was good. Measured them and gave them all a dose of Haemaplex. Also trimmed Lucky and sedated her (very lightly) to do her teeth. Have thought her teeth were an issue for some time, as she doesn't cope with barley hay very well at all.
Temps this evening:
Keema 37.5
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.8
Am 37.6
Frontier 38.4 (up noticeably, but not technically a temp, though coat lack lustre, still fanging for food and no cough/nasal discharge to speak, been grazing all day. Will see tomorrow. Does have a tendency to be higher than others.)
Bart 38
Lucky 37.6
Ambient temp here today very mild about 25 again. Very dry, desperate for some rain.
Saturday temps
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.1
Paz 37.8
Am 37.3
Frontier 38
Bartie 37.9
Lucky 37.3
All normal, no coughing, though we do have an odd clear, serous nasal discharge and some flecky white occ, but the temps have been cold at night again getting down to 12C etc and only in the mid twenties during the day.
Noah 37.1
Paz 37.8
Am 37.3
Frontier 38
Bartie 37.9
Lucky 37.3
All normal, no coughing, though we do have an odd clear, serous nasal discharge and some flecky white occ, but the temps have been cold at night again getting down to 12C etc and only in the mid twenties during the day.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday temp check
All temps check out normally....
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.9
Am 38
Bart 38.1
Frontier 37.9
Lucky 37.5
Though going on this post to CH - hard to know if some of the everyday incidental findings aren't related to EI..... you just don't know if you have the beginnings of it.....it is so subtle. Touchwood surely had a nasal drip this arvo after he did a faceplant while running about (see pic). Lots of them have had the serous nasal discharge and some of the white flecky stuff, but not one cough, not one off their feed and all looking bright. For sure temps have been regularly 38 to 38.2 for some ponies......but are we in a hotter climate????
Note the following account is lifted from an email posted to Cyberhorse, one which i thought was interesting. I later found out that Njuro = Jay Randle
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.9
Am 38
Bart 38.1
Frontier 37.9
Lucky 37.5
Though going on this post to CH - hard to know if some of the everyday incidental findings aren't related to EI..... you just don't know if you have the beginnings of it.....it is so subtle. Touchwood surely had a nasal drip this arvo after he did a faceplant while running about (see pic). Lots of them have had the serous nasal discharge and some of the white flecky stuff, but not one cough, not one off their feed and all looking bright. For sure temps have been regularly 38 to 38.2 for some ponies......but are we in a hotter climate????
Note the following account is lifted from an email posted to Cyberhorse, one which i thought was interesting. I later found out that Njuro = Jay Randle
Njuro Member since 29-Aug-0727 posts
20-Oct-07, 10:27 AM (AEST)
"I think I've got it!"
Well, I THINK I've got the dreaded lurgy! There was an official Infected Property declared on the 9th October about 1km from me as the crow flies. The owner of the property across the road from that one spoke to me on 11th October, to say that her horses also had the virus. The wind has been blowing straight to me from these two properties ever since!
Since the 9th, I have kept daily records of all 28 horses here. I got really concerned when an older gelding (15 years) laid down in the middle of feeding time on the 11th October. This was most unusual for him, and I was quite surprised. But he just lay there for about 10 minutes, then he got up again and started eating.
Also I noticed on the 11th and the 12th that quite a few of the horses were chewing and swallowing as if they were trying to clear something. Like you do when you've got that ticklish feeling in the back of your throat from a nasal drip. The biggest finding I have had is that for days and days I wasn't really sure if I had the thing or not!
By the 13th October, all the horses except 2 had a little clear moisture in their nostrils. I mean a very small amount... if you didn't know that there was EI around you wouldn't even notice it! Just the tiniest glitter of moisture, in either or both nostrils.
On the 14th October, 5 of the horses had the tiniest little bit of white moisture in their nostrils... again, so small that you'd probably not even notice it if you weren't looking for it. One 4 yr old filly got a little bit colicy, just stamping one hind leg a bit, but after about half an hour she stopped and started eating again.
The next day another 3 horses had the white stuff. B
20-Oct-07, 10:27 AM (AEST)
"I think I've got it!"
Well, I THINK I've got the dreaded lurgy! There was an official Infected Property declared on the 9th October about 1km from me as the crow flies. The owner of the property across the road from that one spoke to me on 11th October, to say that her horses also had the virus. The wind has been blowing straight to me from these two properties ever since!
Since the 9th, I have kept daily records of all 28 horses here. I got really concerned when an older gelding (15 years) laid down in the middle of feeding time on the 11th October. This was most unusual for him, and I was quite surprised. But he just lay there for about 10 minutes, then he got up again and started eating.
Also I noticed on the 11th and the 12th that quite a few of the horses were chewing and swallowing as if they were trying to clear something. Like you do when you've got that ticklish feeling in the back of your throat from a nasal drip. The biggest finding I have had is that for days and days I wasn't really sure if I had the thing or not!
By the 13th October, all the horses except 2 had a little clear moisture in their nostrils. I mean a very small amount... if you didn't know that there was EI around you wouldn't even notice it! Just the tiniest glitter of moisture, in either or both nostrils.
On the 14th October, 5 of the horses had the tiniest little bit of white moisture in their nostrils... again, so small that you'd probably not even notice it if you weren't looking for it. One 4 yr old filly got a little bit colicy, just stamping one hind leg a bit, but after about half an hour she stopped and started eating again.
The next day another 3 horses had the white stuff. B
But on the 16th October, none of the horses had the white stuff, but all had gone back to just clear moisture, but a little more of it this time. In all of this time, I had one high-ish temperature (38.2) but that was in a heavily-pregnant TB mare on a hot day.... so, again, I wasn't sure if this was a fever. BTW, I did report to the DPI on 14th October, but they don't want to know me.
On the 17th October 2 horses coughed.
On the 18th October 3 horses coughed. I heard these coughs about 2 or 3 times a day.... very mild, the kind of cough you hear when a horse has a bit of hay stuck somewhere and they're trying to clear it. One or two coughs, then nothing more.
On the 19th October I heard a few more coughs, and 5 of the horses were obviously a little depressed... off their feed (a little, not much), and just standing around. One 9 yr old gelding did the stamping his hind foot thing for about 20 minutes, then he was fine.
This morning the two horses who had previously not shown any signs have suddenly got the white stuff in their nostrils. So I think I've got it! All are eating today, none seemed depressed, haven't heard any coughing so far, and most of them have got the clear moisture, with about 8 having the white stuff.
I have 20 horses aged from 1 year to 16 years in one 20-acre paddock, and they all come down to be fed twice a day. I have 3 broodmares (one with a foal) in another 10-acre paddock, also being fed twice a day. I have a 2 yr old colt and a 7 yr old gelding together in a third paddock of about 1 acre, with two mares together in a fourth paddock (1/2 acre), and a stallion in his own large yard. All are fed twice a day, and these paddocks are all around the house so are in clear view at all times.
The stallion and one of the mares in the small paddock were the last two to succumb to the snotty nose symptom.The two-week old foal has only had the clear moisture, as has his mum. He has not been depressed at all, and is a bundle of energy. There have been no further temperature spikes in any of the horses.
So, do I have it? I still am not sure. Going on reports from others I really thought the symptoms would be a lot worse. But maybe my horses have a mild case? Honestly, if I didn't know that there was EI so close to me I wouldn't be in the least bit worried. Hopefully it won't get any worse.I must say that I am very surprised at how long it's been since I first noticed the slight moisture until today when I first really thought that I MUST have it!
It is not at all surprising to me now that people could be carrying the virus without even knowing it. If it wasn't for the fact that I have been very careful, and that I have been house-bound since it all started, and that I have banned anyone from coming here since before it started, then it would have been extremely easy to transport the virus BEFORE any horses started really showing any symptoms.
So don't automatically think that your horses don't have EI if they're not coughing or have high temps. But then again, maybe my horses just have a cold, and it's not really EI? I don't know! The DPI won't come and check.... they just assume I've got it because it is confirmed at a property so close to mine.
This is a really confusing virus!
Njuro
On the 17th October 2 horses coughed.
On the 18th October 3 horses coughed. I heard these coughs about 2 or 3 times a day.... very mild, the kind of cough you hear when a horse has a bit of hay stuck somewhere and they're trying to clear it. One or two coughs, then nothing more.
On the 19th October I heard a few more coughs, and 5 of the horses were obviously a little depressed... off their feed (a little, not much), and just standing around. One 9 yr old gelding did the stamping his hind foot thing for about 20 minutes, then he was fine.
This morning the two horses who had previously not shown any signs have suddenly got the white stuff in their nostrils. So I think I've got it! All are eating today, none seemed depressed, haven't heard any coughing so far, and most of them have got the clear moisture, with about 8 having the white stuff.
I have 20 horses aged from 1 year to 16 years in one 20-acre paddock, and they all come down to be fed twice a day. I have 3 broodmares (one with a foal) in another 10-acre paddock, also being fed twice a day. I have a 2 yr old colt and a 7 yr old gelding together in a third paddock of about 1 acre, with two mares together in a fourth paddock (1/2 acre), and a stallion in his own large yard. All are fed twice a day, and these paddocks are all around the house so are in clear view at all times.
The stallion and one of the mares in the small paddock were the last two to succumb to the snotty nose symptom.The two-week old foal has only had the clear moisture, as has his mum. He has not been depressed at all, and is a bundle of energy. There have been no further temperature spikes in any of the horses.
So, do I have it? I still am not sure. Going on reports from others I really thought the symptoms would be a lot worse. But maybe my horses have a mild case? Honestly, if I didn't know that there was EI so close to me I wouldn't be in the least bit worried. Hopefully it won't get any worse.I must say that I am very surprised at how long it's been since I first noticed the slight moisture until today when I first really thought that I MUST have it!
It is not at all surprising to me now that people could be carrying the virus without even knowing it. If it wasn't for the fact that I have been very careful, and that I have been house-bound since it all started, and that I have banned anyone from coming here since before it started, then it would have been extremely easy to transport the virus BEFORE any horses started really showing any symptoms.
So don't automatically think that your horses don't have EI if they're not coughing or have high temps. But then again, maybe my horses just have a cold, and it's not really EI? I don't know! The DPI won't come and check.... they just assume I've got it because it is confirmed at a property so close to mine.
This is a really confusing virus!
Njuro
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Lucky for Lucky! Vaccine for KPH.
This morning Tori McGuire (from Anstead Vets) arrived at 8.30am and we microchipped and vaccinated the lot. Little Bit of Luck (TB extraordinaire) and 14 other Arabians and Arabian derivatives. Not sure how Racing Qld would view that ratio :) To say I was pleased was an understatement. Though the number of forms to be filled in was astounding - five copies!!!!
We used the ProteqFlu-Te which is the live modified version - recombinant canary pox. Contains the Kentucky/94 [h3n8] & Newmarket/2/93 [H3N8] strains of influenza A. Also tetanus toxoid version. I can post more about it from the information sheet if anyone requests it.
Temps tonight:
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.9
Am 37.6
Bartie 37.7
Frontier 38.0
Lucky 38.0 (which is a little up for her)
Note: a slight increas in temp (max 1.5C) may occur for 1 day, exceptionally 2 days....
Now to just hold our breath and see if our luck holds while they get a chance to build some immunity. Bit of a cold spell here at the moment, although the wind stopped this evening. Weather variable.
The Ryan horses (read Ned) succumbed last night. Spiked a temp in the 38C range. Amigo and Finn still free at this time.
We used the ProteqFlu-Te which is the live modified version - recombinant canary pox. Contains the Kentucky/94 [h3n8] & Newmarket/2/93 [H3N8] strains of influenza A. Also tetanus toxoid version. I can post more about it from the information sheet if anyone requests it.
Temps tonight:
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.9
Am 37.6
Bartie 37.7
Frontier 38.0
Lucky 38.0 (which is a little up for her)
Note: a slight increas in temp (max 1.5C) may occur for 1 day, exceptionally 2 days....
Now to just hold our breath and see if our luck holds while they get a chance to build some immunity. Bit of a cold spell here at the moment, although the wind stopped this evening. Weather variable.
The Ryan horses (read Ned) succumbed last night. Spiked a temp in the 38C range. Amigo and Finn still free at this time.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Temp check Wed
Keema 37.8
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.8
Am 37.5
Bartie 37.8
Frontier 37.6
Lucky 37.5
All good, Tory coming in the morning.
Noah 37.3
Paz 37.8
Am 37.5
Bartie 37.8
Frontier 37.6
Lucky 37.5
All good, Tory coming in the morning.
Little Bit of Luck
Apparently there was a big write up in the Courier Mail of the practise of discriminatory vaccination with non-thoroughbreds being missed on places where TBs are being vaccinated. So, because I have a TB mare here I contacted Anstead vets to see if Lucky might be vaccinated & equired about the others. They replied that rest of the horses on the property could now be done as well (if you had a reg TB), providing there were still enough vaccine stocks available. Touchwood! We'll see what happens.
The wind is blowing way too much for my liking toay, but at least it is from the South East, probably the least "toxic" as regards EI infection. Spoke to Peter Murphy today, still clear up that way. Maurice was clear on the weekend. Oakey Creek was vaccinated last Friday. No other enroachments that I know of..... Ryans are still clear despite being surrounded on all sides.
The wind is blowing way too much for my liking toay, but at least it is from the South East, probably the least "toxic" as regards EI infection. Spoke to Peter Murphy today, still clear up that way. Maurice was clear on the weekend. Oakey Creek was vaccinated last Friday. No other enroachments that I know of..... Ryans are still clear despite being surrounded on all sides.
Tuesday's temps.
Still clear, temp check:
Keema 38.1
Noah 37.8
Paz 37.9
Am 37.8
Bart 38.0
Frontier 38.1
Lucky 38.1
Touchwood's fetlock improving all the time. Blood work, equine profile, came back pretty unremarkable except that notable deficiency in globulins (say no more.)
Also applied yesterday for vaccination of high risk/high performance but no word. Also may be a chance of getting vaccine as a result of having a reg TB broodmare. Have enquired at Anstead Vet regarding this possibility.
Keema 38.1
Noah 37.8
Paz 37.9
Am 37.8
Bart 38.0
Frontier 38.1
Lucky 38.1
Touchwood's fetlock improving all the time. Blood work, equine profile, came back pretty unremarkable except that notable deficiency in globulins (say no more.)
Also applied yesterday for vaccination of high risk/high performance but no word. Also may be a chance of getting vaccine as a result of having a reg TB broodmare. Have enquired at Anstead Vet regarding this possibility.
Letter Re Equine Influenza Strategy
Equine Influenza Strategy 16/10/2007
To Whom It May Concern:
The outbreak of influenza has not only devastated the Thoroughbred industry in Australia, it has devastated the pleasure horse industry, the “service provider” industry (I am member of this industry) and it has decimated the primary industries in both a national and a state level. The credibility, on any level, of government to deal with this outbreak has been severely tarnished.
The “Austvetplan” is a poorly conceived and poorly implemented idea that was based on a viral outbreak that would be passed horse to horse. Its failings are blamed on the human bio-security breaches, and not on the failure of the plan to account for horse to human to horse. The government agencies are run by people with agendas. Many want to keep the island influenza free and many want to fly the “Austvetplan” flag they conceived until the last horse in Australia gets influenza. The problem is that many, if not most, do not have a vested interest in the industry other than their areas of control. They are not really at the coal-face. They may even be veterinarians who don’t see horse owners and horses on a day to day basis. They have, and frankly, I have, misjudged the love and dedication that horse owners have toward their horses.
For most of the owners this is not at “arms length” relationship. This is not a Thoroughbred trainer who has forty horses under his charge, but lives away from the stable. This is a family that has four to ten horses that are right in the back yard. They look at the snotty noses, they record the temperatures, sometimes hourly, or they wait for the virus to hit. They see neighbours or friends get vaccine while they are excluded. These were people who would rather let their horses get the flu and suffer for the sake of keeping the country “influenza free” (much to my dismay) until the strategy from the various DPI’s was exposed as not a strategy to keep the flu from spreading, but a strategy to keep the racing industry going.
This is a plan to protect one industry that was cloaked in the sheep’s wool of fighting the spread of the virus. At that point even the slowest of the slow knew where the DPI’s interest and allegiance lay. At that point, and currently, few people have any respect for the state and even to some extent, the federal government authorities. Sadly that includes people from my profession as well.
So what do we do? I feel that having governments deal with this catastrophe is like asking a tortoise to herd cats. The bureaucracy is just too slow and too entrenched in defending themselves and their plans to adequately deal with such a dynamic situation. We need people who are not married to a plan, but to the well being of all horses and all industries. Might I suggest that we let economic forces have a go at solving this problem?
Influenza vaccine does not cause economic ruin in countries where it is endemic contrary to public opinion. In fact, the average horse owner would not even consider it to be anything more than just a normal and rather inexpensive cost of owning a horse. Compared to the cost of the dentist, farrier chiropractor, and dare I say, veterinarian, an influenza vaccine would not even register on the radar.
Few horse owners in America even vaccinate more than once a year for influenza, and as a veterinarian, I did not recommend more than one influenza vaccination a year, unless the horse was competing and traveling to other horse venues. Some owners would vaccinate more than yearly, and some wouldn’t, but no one makes horse owners vaccinate. It is just smart preventive medicine.
So instead of forcing people to vaccinate, and instead of “not letting” people have access to vaccine, I suggest the government step out of the role of control and let market forces take over. Allow people to make their own choices and pay for their choices after an initial round of vaccines.
Horse ownership is not a right and governments should not finance the protection of horses against such a virus.There already is vaccine in Australia that is about as effective as influenza vaccine, and is and for a virus that has far more complications than equine influenza. Equine herpes virus causes flu like symptoms, occasional coital lesions on both stallions and mares, abortions and rarely paralysis and death. Only very few people vaccinate for herpes or “rhino” and there is no obligation to provide evidence of vaccination except when mares go to breeding studs.
So, the government has no reason to say that letting the horse owning public decide to vaccinate (or not) has no precedence. You would be crazy not to vaccinate.It is a myth to say that if influenza becomes endemic in Australia, it will lead to ruination of the industry.It is a fact that the continuation of this plan and the preferential vaccination of valuable vs. the endangered horses will cause ruination of many industries.
I am currently visiting my father in California. Together we have over 75 years experience in endemic influenza country. Neither of us remembers when the flu stopped a single equine event yet we have both seen many cases of influenza.
I urge all of you to unite and demand that you be allowed to vaccinate your horses and be prepared to pay for it yourselves. The vaccine over in the States retails for about $15 dollars per dose. You might want to also demand that market forces get the cost down as well.
A microchip will not offer any immunity. We do not need government or quasi government ( Horse Council) controls. We need money to be put into vaccine, not a team of people vaccinating one horse. Get real.I have just attended a veterinary seminar about EI in the States last week. The consensus is that vaccine and acceptance is the way to go. They are shaking their heads at our eradication plan and the selective vaccinations.
Respectfully,
Elizabeth Woolsey Herbert DVM
Adelaide Plain Equine ClinicGawler SA
www.horsedoctor.org
To Whom It May Concern:
The outbreak of influenza has not only devastated the Thoroughbred industry in Australia, it has devastated the pleasure horse industry, the “service provider” industry (I am member of this industry) and it has decimated the primary industries in both a national and a state level. The credibility, on any level, of government to deal with this outbreak has been severely tarnished.
The “Austvetplan” is a poorly conceived and poorly implemented idea that was based on a viral outbreak that would be passed horse to horse. Its failings are blamed on the human bio-security breaches, and not on the failure of the plan to account for horse to human to horse. The government agencies are run by people with agendas. Many want to keep the island influenza free and many want to fly the “Austvetplan” flag they conceived until the last horse in Australia gets influenza. The problem is that many, if not most, do not have a vested interest in the industry other than their areas of control. They are not really at the coal-face. They may even be veterinarians who don’t see horse owners and horses on a day to day basis. They have, and frankly, I have, misjudged the love and dedication that horse owners have toward their horses.
For most of the owners this is not at “arms length” relationship. This is not a Thoroughbred trainer who has forty horses under his charge, but lives away from the stable. This is a family that has four to ten horses that are right in the back yard. They look at the snotty noses, they record the temperatures, sometimes hourly, or they wait for the virus to hit. They see neighbours or friends get vaccine while they are excluded. These were people who would rather let their horses get the flu and suffer for the sake of keeping the country “influenza free” (much to my dismay) until the strategy from the various DPI’s was exposed as not a strategy to keep the flu from spreading, but a strategy to keep the racing industry going.
This is a plan to protect one industry that was cloaked in the sheep’s wool of fighting the spread of the virus. At that point even the slowest of the slow knew where the DPI’s interest and allegiance lay. At that point, and currently, few people have any respect for the state and even to some extent, the federal government authorities. Sadly that includes people from my profession as well.
So what do we do? I feel that having governments deal with this catastrophe is like asking a tortoise to herd cats. The bureaucracy is just too slow and too entrenched in defending themselves and their plans to adequately deal with such a dynamic situation. We need people who are not married to a plan, but to the well being of all horses and all industries. Might I suggest that we let economic forces have a go at solving this problem?
Influenza vaccine does not cause economic ruin in countries where it is endemic contrary to public opinion. In fact, the average horse owner would not even consider it to be anything more than just a normal and rather inexpensive cost of owning a horse. Compared to the cost of the dentist, farrier chiropractor, and dare I say, veterinarian, an influenza vaccine would not even register on the radar.
Few horse owners in America even vaccinate more than once a year for influenza, and as a veterinarian, I did not recommend more than one influenza vaccination a year, unless the horse was competing and traveling to other horse venues. Some owners would vaccinate more than yearly, and some wouldn’t, but no one makes horse owners vaccinate. It is just smart preventive medicine.
So instead of forcing people to vaccinate, and instead of “not letting” people have access to vaccine, I suggest the government step out of the role of control and let market forces take over. Allow people to make their own choices and pay for their choices after an initial round of vaccines.
Horse ownership is not a right and governments should not finance the protection of horses against such a virus.There already is vaccine in Australia that is about as effective as influenza vaccine, and is and for a virus that has far more complications than equine influenza. Equine herpes virus causes flu like symptoms, occasional coital lesions on both stallions and mares, abortions and rarely paralysis and death. Only very few people vaccinate for herpes or “rhino” and there is no obligation to provide evidence of vaccination except when mares go to breeding studs.
So, the government has no reason to say that letting the horse owning public decide to vaccinate (or not) has no precedence. You would be crazy not to vaccinate.It is a myth to say that if influenza becomes endemic in Australia, it will lead to ruination of the industry.It is a fact that the continuation of this plan and the preferential vaccination of valuable vs. the endangered horses will cause ruination of many industries.
I am currently visiting my father in California. Together we have over 75 years experience in endemic influenza country. Neither of us remembers when the flu stopped a single equine event yet we have both seen many cases of influenza.
I urge all of you to unite and demand that you be allowed to vaccinate your horses and be prepared to pay for it yourselves. The vaccine over in the States retails for about $15 dollars per dose. You might want to also demand that market forces get the cost down as well.
A microchip will not offer any immunity. We do not need government or quasi government ( Horse Council) controls. We need money to be put into vaccine, not a team of people vaccinating one horse. Get real.I have just attended a veterinary seminar about EI in the States last week. The consensus is that vaccine and acceptance is the way to go. They are shaking their heads at our eradication plan and the selective vaccinations.
Respectfully,
Elizabeth Woolsey Herbert DVM
Adelaide Plain Equine ClinicGawler SA
www.horsedoctor.org
Monday, October 15, 2007
Snots chance in hell.....vaccine application
Well, given we've been keeping EI at bay for over two weeks now I put in an application to have our horses considered for vaccination. Can't imagine that it will happen. Later in the day had Nathan come and check out my errant little runner - Touchwood - b/c there is definitely effusion in the hind fetlock joint. Not sore though..... Nathan concured that unlikely to be joint ill (phew, what I was most worried about) but we took some bloods anyway. So could be a "sprain" or perhaps a fracture of the sesamoid (which although sounds bad, isn't as bad as it could be!)
Temps
Touchwood 39.3 (after running about for a good while and being handled, needled twice)
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.6
Paz 38.1
Amazzon 37.6
Bartie 38
Frontier 38.1
Lucky 37.5
Temps
Touchwood 39.3 (after running about for a good while and being handled, needled twice)
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.6
Paz 38.1
Amazzon 37.6
Bartie 38
Frontier 38.1
Lucky 37.5
Sunday, snot too far away!
Ah yes, couldn't resist the title. Spent alot of the day worrying about Touchwood's fetlock. Though temping very well at 38.5 am and pm. Still getting about well, doesn't look sore, nor flex sore, ? heat.....though on antibiotics. Still no EI here. All horses temping well.
Keema 37.9
Paz 37.9
Noah 37.6
Am 37.6
Bartie 37.4
Frontier 37.6
Lucky 37.1
Keema 37.9
Paz 37.9
Noah 37.6
Am 37.6
Bartie 37.4
Frontier 37.6
Lucky 37.1
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Its all about the foals!
Well, today I've just done nothing but run around after the foals. Fetched the hyperimmune plasma from Anstead and a couple of mare catheters, as Pazzy was throwing out some mucopurulent goop this morning. Of the sort that needs flushing. Made me even more nervous about "Go". Had to wait until mid afternoon until I could get extra hands to help - by which time I had overdosed on adrenaline.
Touchwood also has one swollen fetlock that is worrying me and although not lame and temp okay at 39.3 (bit hot, bouncing around mid arvo) it still isn't a good look in a week old foal and a bit suspicious of joint ill. Took bloods, given antibiotics and will have another look in the morning.
Plasma into "Go" and flushed Pazzy by nightfall (then instilled the 500mg gent/20ml proc pen into 1 litre saline into uterus) after cleaning her out, 2mls oxytocin & 4mls finadyne....and more food!
Heard someone coughing up the back, but no one did it while we were there. Temps all pretty good. (Femme is a bit want to cough at times as she had a long respiratory lurgy in the beginning of August....)
Foals: Touchwood 39.3 & Go 38.3 (after plasma & diazepam (valium)
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.6
Paz - sedated so didn't take
Amazzon 37.5
Bartie 37.3
Frontier 38.1
Lucky 37.1
Check Touchwood in the morning as regards temp, have on cetiofur (Accent) at present. Bugger not putting plasma in him!!!!
Reports indicate that Skyline Drive definitely do have EI, Fay and the minatures and over the road. Neil & Sharon Mathers also report that their horses have EI as of last night. Ryans still clean.
Off to bed
Touchwood also has one swollen fetlock that is worrying me and although not lame and temp okay at 39.3 (bit hot, bouncing around mid arvo) it still isn't a good look in a week old foal and a bit suspicious of joint ill. Took bloods, given antibiotics and will have another look in the morning.
Plasma into "Go" and flushed Pazzy by nightfall (then instilled the 500mg gent/20ml proc pen into 1 litre saline into uterus) after cleaning her out, 2mls oxytocin & 4mls finadyne....and more food!
Heard someone coughing up the back, but no one did it while we were there. Temps all pretty good. (Femme is a bit want to cough at times as she had a long respiratory lurgy in the beginning of August....)
Foals: Touchwood 39.3 & Go 38.3 (after plasma & diazepam (valium)
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.6
Paz - sedated so didn't take
Amazzon 37.5
Bartie 37.3
Frontier 38.1
Lucky 37.1
Check Touchwood in the morning as regards temp, have on cetiofur (Accent) at present. Bugger not putting plasma in him!!!!
Reports indicate that Skyline Drive definitely do have EI, Fay and the minatures and over the road. Neil & Sharon Mathers also report that their horses have EI as of last night. Ryans still clean.
Off to bed
Friday, October 12, 2007
Frantic foal capers!
More heavy rain and storms during the night. More worry re the new foals in their paddocks, but hey they survive in far worse than this......
Touchwood looked fantastic flying about his paddock this morning. Little Go up and drinking every time I looked. At 6am we examined Go and took some blood, which was very difficult because she wasn't having any of it. Bounding about. All well, though her heart very loud with resounding timbre, murmur consistent with newborn heart/indistinct heart sounds at times, 100/min, Temp 38.3, omm fantastic, nothing even remotely abnormal.
Snap test was much better than I anticipated. I think better than Touchwood - both between 400 & 800 mg/dl - but incredibly subjective. Which is partial failure of passive transfer. Not sure I want to chance this girl. Though everything looking good.
Decided to send to lab and have them quantify the result further only to have them confirm both foals between 400-800 mg/dl....perhaps they use the same Snap Test?
Anyway - ran an equine body function on Go b/c Pazzy very obv. had placentitis and all parameters fabulous. WCC normal, fibrinogen 2 (makes Tappy look off the planet and Dick assures me that she is normal as anything now)....Electrolytes, renal enzymes all normal, ALP up to astonishing 2000+ but this is normal in newborn foals.
Hmmm..... spoke to Tori at Anstead......Anstead now has "coughing" horses so "dirty" so-to-speak. She was pretty definite that if it is a valuable foal that little Go should have hyperimmune serum, though Touchwood passed the very vunerable stage.
Tori also said that foals that they are seeing are doing quite well with influenza providing they're not compromised in other ways. Might be the deciding factor.
Temps seem okay tonight though Femme did have a bit of a cough, but can be want to do so.
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.9
Paz 37.9
Amazzon 37.7
Bartie 37.9
Frontier 38.2
Lucky 37.7
Touchwood looked fantastic flying about his paddock this morning. Little Go up and drinking every time I looked. At 6am we examined Go and took some blood, which was very difficult because she wasn't having any of it. Bounding about. All well, though her heart very loud with resounding timbre, murmur consistent with newborn heart/indistinct heart sounds at times, 100/min, Temp 38.3, omm fantastic, nothing even remotely abnormal.
Snap test was much better than I anticipated. I think better than Touchwood - both between 400 & 800 mg/dl - but incredibly subjective. Which is partial failure of passive transfer. Not sure I want to chance this girl. Though everything looking good.
Decided to send to lab and have them quantify the result further only to have them confirm both foals between 400-800 mg/dl....perhaps they use the same Snap Test?
Anyway - ran an equine body function on Go b/c Pazzy very obv. had placentitis and all parameters fabulous. WCC normal, fibrinogen 2 (makes Tappy look off the planet and Dick assures me that she is normal as anything now)....Electrolytes, renal enzymes all normal, ALP up to astonishing 2000+ but this is normal in newborn foals.
Hmmm..... spoke to Tori at Anstead......Anstead now has "coughing" horses so "dirty" so-to-speak. She was pretty definite that if it is a valuable foal that little Go should have hyperimmune serum, though Touchwood passed the very vunerable stage.
Tori also said that foals that they are seeing are doing quite well with influenza providing they're not compromised in other ways. Might be the deciding factor.
Temps seem okay tonight though Femme did have a bit of a cough, but can be want to do so.
Keema 37.9
Noah 37.9
Paz 37.9
Amazzon 37.7
Bartie 37.9
Frontier 38.2
Lucky 37.7
Thursday, October 11, 2007
That was yesterday; this is today!
OMG, lay awake alot of the night last night listening to the rain and thinking that it was far too wet for Touchwood and how would he be comfortable???? When I looked out the window at dawn, still misty rain, but he looked fine and has been galloping about all day! Still abit worried about his moderate amount of IgG, but no problems so far.....
AND THEN
....I looked out the window, stepped out of the deck, briefly glanced up....and thought for an instant....by God that foal's in the wrong paddock..... And then the reality hit home. F...K Pazzy's had her foal! AND I MISSED IT. I could see that it was sitting up and looking pretty normal but went into hyperwarp.....took the camera with me, no CF card of course....
It was about 10am I suspect, by the time I glanced out it was 11am. All seems well, though Pazzy seems like she has very minimal milk. Due to do an IgG test in the morning and pretty much convinced we're doing a plasma (hyperimmune) top up...and will do bloods. But to all intents and purposes the FILLY (chestnut, will go grey) is looking very normal and got a great suck happening...... Pazzy lost her membranes about midday and they did show very evident signs of placentitis, very brownish mucopurulent material present. To stay on antibiotics for a while.
Paddock name at this stage is "Go".....we'll see what happens as regards name....thoughts have been "TouchNGo" as well as "Ready-Set-Go"...... but really just wanting to get through this first week all okay. Day 322 today, so only just made the 320 finish line.......
Temps tonight holding:
Keema 37.9
Noah 38.1 (but galloping about before being fed/temp taken)
Paz 38.2
Amazzon 37.9
Frontier 38
Bart 38
Lucky 38
Hot and humid, stifling almost and the midges look like starting to be a problem.....maybe for people as much as horses....
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Raining here tonight
Rain falling steadily as I write this. Of course I am worrying about Touchwood who is out in the weather. Though in the past they all seem to survive the wet I still can't help but worry.Ryan horses still doing ok. Neighbourhood secure as far as I know. Jan's horses swabbed positive on nasal samples for infection. Thinking Oakey Creek still free????
Temps all fantastic tonight.
Keema 37.6
Paz 38 (running about being silly)
Noah 37.1 (got the prize)
Amazzon 37.6
Bartie 37.3
Frontier 37.5
Lucky 37.1 (might be TB but looking great)
Timber!
Last night, last thing a phone call - "we're coming in the morning to knock down the dead pine-tree next to the house". It's been going to happen for weeks, no months, now finally.....though I am a bit nervous about it because not wanting to stress the horses, upset the mare & foal or soon to foal mare. So up early this morning, still no coughing. All normal. Shifted horses around. And sure enough the men from "Stumps" arrive & almost simultaneously so does another line of storms - about 9am in the morning. Haven't had morning storms for years! They were quick, but not quick enough. Tree down. Horses fine. Quick coffee while it rained and stormed, then the mulcher munched the tree into tiny pieces & I sent it on its merry way. Very professional job. Pazzy Day 321 today and holding. Ryan horses still EI free as of yesterday.
Tues PM
Yesterday afternoon the storms just rolled on through....not a great deal of rain about 9mm....though keeping everything damp. Touchwood looking fantastically normal and healthy.
Still no sign of EI on our side of Kholo Rd. Lorraine and Andy Hanson, Peter & Jean, Chris Forrester, horses next door to us or on Lake Manchester Road near the Estate.
Keema 38.2
Paz 38.2
Noah 37.3
Amazzon 37.7
Bartie 38.0
Lucky 38.0
Tonight Pazzy wearing the Magic Breed tonight. Not looking like foaling tonight.
Still no sign of EI on our side of Kholo Rd. Lorraine and Andy Hanson, Peter & Jean, Chris Forrester, horses next door to us or on Lake Manchester Road near the Estate.
Keema 38.2
Paz 38.2
Noah 37.3
Amazzon 37.7
Bartie 38.0
Lucky 38.0
Tonight Pazzy wearing the Magic Breed tonight. Not looking like foaling tonight.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Tuesday AM
Woke to the sound of Keema running about following Touchwood who was doing the foal bounding about thing at dawn. Poor Keema. No coughing though. Hot and humid here this morning, had about 8mm rain last night, just enough to give the parched grass a bit of a drink.
Pazzy, no foal & we have foal alarm now - so that is a relief. Though she has stopped dripping colostrum and udder has lost its oedematous look. Day 320 today! And a good Day 320 at that!
No coughs. Amazzon 37.3C - everyone looks normal.
No EI on our side of Kholo Rd that anyone has reported.
Pazzy, no foal & we have foal alarm now - so that is a relief. Though she has stopped dripping colostrum and udder has lost its oedematous look. Day 320 today! And a good Day 320 at that!
No coughs. Amazzon 37.3C - everyone looks normal.
No EI on our side of Kholo Rd that anyone has reported.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Equine flu vaccination - the ongoing debate
September 25, 2007
The implications of vaccine use in New Zealand for the control of any equine influenza outbreak is discussed by Dr John O'Flaherty, technical adviser to the New Zealand Equine Health Association.
The use and timing of vaccination in an Equine Influenza (EI) outbreak is always going to be a contentious issue.
There are strong arguments both for and against vaccination and our decisions around vaccine use need to be constantly under review. With the news that Australia is to import vaccine for use in "buffer zones" around EI hotspots we can expect another round of discussion and opinion on the merits of vaccination.
Vaccines are developed to trigger immunity against a specific infectious organism ie a virus or bacteria that causes disease. A vaccine aims to mimic the disease without producing any clinical signs.
There are three types of Equine Influenza vaccines available.
These are:
Killed or inactivated vaccines - the virus is killed usually by chemicals and then mixed with a liquid carrier (adjuvant). The vaccine may use the whole virus, various virus proteins or viral DNA or RNA. These vaccines frequently include multiple strains of influenza virus A2 representing the major circulating strains. The main advantage of these vaccines is the absence of pathogenicity, virus replication and subsequent spread between hosts. They are administered by intramuscular injection and a course of two injections four to six weeks apart is recommended. Optimal immunity is not present until at least 7-14 days after the second dose. For ongoing protection from disease, manufacturers recommend a booster vaccination at 6 months. Annual or more frequent boosters, depending on the likely exposure of the horse to circulating virus, are then required.
Live modified vaccines - these vaccines have been made safe through a process called attenuation (decreasing the virulence of the virus for the horse). Horses that have been infected by EI virus have been shown to be protected from reinfection for about 12 months so it would be expected that a live virus vaccine would give superior protection to the inactivated vaccines. However the vaccine did not provide this level of protection and while they did provide quicker and stronger immunity than inactivated vaccines anecdotal evidence suggests they have not had widespread uptake. They do present the risk of viral spread following their use. An intranasal cold adapted modified live equine influenza virus vaccine based on a Kentucky 1991 A/Equi 2 virus is available in North America. It is licensed for vaccination of non-pregnant animals over 11 months of age using a single dose of vaccine followed by boosters at 6 month intervals. There is evidence of early onset of protection (as early as 7 days) following the use of this vaccine.
Recombinant vaccines - these vaccines are another form of "live vaccine" but because they require different technology and approvals process it is convenient to treat them as a separate type. In these vaccines selected genes from the equine 2 influenza virus are inserted into another "safe" non disease causing virus. A recombinant canary pox vector based equine influenza vaccine is available in Europe and the USA. The vaccine is given by intramuscular injection and a two dose priming regime is recommended with boosters at a six month interval. The onset of immunity has been documented at 14 days after administration of the first dose and this is probably one of the reasons that Australia is planning on importing to import this type of EI vaccine for use in creating their "buffer zones".
The New Zealand Equine Health Association (NZEHA) has been preparing with MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) for the past ten years for an Equine Influenza incursion. As part of that preparedness we have registered two killed equine influenza vaccines. The registrations for these vaccines are held by MAFBNZ and at this time we have no stock of vaccine in NZ. The original plan was to have the vaccine registered so we could quickly source stocks from overseas in the face of an outbreak. It was planned to be able to vaccinate unaffected horses distant from an infected area to create a "buffer zone" while movement control was applied and eradication attempted in the affected group.
We have since reviewed this approach and on balance we consider that while we have only inactivated vaccines to use in an incursion we would probably not initially use vaccination. Inactivated vaccines take too long to generate immunity in the horse and the real risk that vaccinated horses can still contract the disease, albeit with fewer or no symptoms, and excrete virus thus potentially adding to the spread of the disease is of real concern.
Most of the vaccines we encounter as humans are very effective and impart long standing immunity against the disease they are designed to protect against. When we look at the available vaccines against equine influenza and also human influenza this is not the case.
To understand why, we have to look both at the virus and the vaccine. The Equine Influenza virus is constantly changing how it is seen by horse's immune system. These subtle changes are called antigenic drift (the virus presents a different face to the horse's immune system). Every so often there is significant change in the virus and a new subtype is identified. New subtypes are named after the place where they were first identified so we see names like Prague, Suffolk, Ohio, Miami, Kentucky, Wisconsin etc. attached to the influenza virus. These constant subtle changes in the virus are the reason why horses can catch influenza more than once, even in consecutive years.
Although vaccination can prevent disease, the available EI vaccines neither fully prevent infection nor transmission of the virus. However, vaccinated horses, in response to EI infection, shed less virus for shorter periods and show fewer or no detectable clinical signs than fully susceptible horses. The immunity generated in horses after vaccination is relatively short lived so unless a horse is constantly challenged its immunity wanes and it can be reinfected quite quickly. There is no carrier state ( ie the virus does not remain in the normal recovered horse as is the case with Equine Herpes Virus) in horses that have been infected with Equine Influenza.
In countries where the virus is endemic it is because the infection keeps circulating through the horse population. For vaccination to have much impact on the rate at which EI circulates and reinfects horses, in a country in which the disease is endemic, it is necessary to have a strict vaccination program involving about 70% of the horse population. If we were to apply this to New Zealand with about 120,000 horses, we would need to vaccinate 84000 and at a cost of approximately $375 +GST for an initial three dose course of killed vaccine per horse the first year cost would be about $30 million.
With these subtle changes to the virus, vaccine manufacturers are always chasing a moving target. They are constantly upgrading their vaccines with the latest subtypes. This process takes a couple of years at least. So when there is a new outbreak it is important to firstly type the virus and then select the most appropriate vaccine.
Most influenza vaccines have at least two subtypes and generally include American and European strains.
We have no word yet from Australia as to the subtype they have but if it is the Wisconsin 2003 subtype as widely suggested, vaccines containing Kentucky 1997 subtype would be as close as we could get and we understand it would be relatively effective.
This combination of poor immunity, antigenic drift and the use of out of date or wrong subtype vaccines gives rise to a real problem we have already alluded to when confronted with this disease. Vaccinated horses will be reinfected and as they have some protection they will show few if any symptoms (ie be subclinical) but still shed virus and be a source of new infections. This makes detection more difficult and more expensive as we have to rely on a wider range of laboratory tests.
In the face of an outbreak there is the confusion created with positive blood results as to whether they are due to vaccine or natural infection. In those countries where vaccination is practised there are regular episodes of disease and every five or so years there is a major outbreak.
It must be pointed out that vaccination on its own has not ever resulted in EI eradication. It may have a place alongside stringent biosecurity measures and movement controls.
Vaccination may be used to protect animals in certain sub sectors /regions of the horse industry and /or to reduce the economic impact of this disease.
In conclusion I would like to include a table taken from a recent Australian Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases' paper on the pros and cons of vaccination. I have taken the liberty of making it relevant to New Zealand with our current EI freedom.
Advantages and disadvantages of vaccination for EI
Advantages
Vaccination can prevent clinical disease.
Vaccination reduces the susceptibility of at-risk horses, reduces the severity of clinical signs and the level of viral shedding if they become infected.
Vaccination can reduce farm-to-farm spread of infection.
Disadvantages
Vaccination may mask clinical signs so vaccinated horses will need to be identified and monitored for evidence of infection.
Serological monitoring will be difficult, even though tests are available to differentiate vaccinated horses. Some tests used in this respect may not be internationally validated.
The movement of sub-clinically infected vaccinated horses may spread infection to previously unaffected areas.
Vaccination may prolong the need for movement restrictions because it may slow the transmission and spread of infection within areas.
Vaccinating selected regions will lead to the country being separated into free and vaccinated areas. This will result in differential movement requirements and the need for infrastructure (permits, border controls, etc) to maintain integrity of free areas.
Vaccination will have an impact in terms of registration and passport issues and the practical control measures required before many horse events can proceed.
Vaccination is not an immediate option, it will take time to import vaccine (permit process), deploy vaccine and train vaccinators, vaccinate the population and for immunity to develop.
In the case of the recombinant vaccine there may difficulties with its registration and there would likely be restrictions placed on how and who may use the vaccine.
Vaccination may affect performance in the short term.
Vaccine use is likely to extend the duration of an outbreak and delay ability to declare freedom.
The implications of vaccine use in New Zealand for the control of any equine influenza outbreak is discussed by Dr John O'Flaherty, technical adviser to the New Zealand Equine Health Association.
The use and timing of vaccination in an Equine Influenza (EI) outbreak is always going to be a contentious issue.
There are strong arguments both for and against vaccination and our decisions around vaccine use need to be constantly under review. With the news that Australia is to import vaccine for use in "buffer zones" around EI hotspots we can expect another round of discussion and opinion on the merits of vaccination.
Vaccines are developed to trigger immunity against a specific infectious organism ie a virus or bacteria that causes disease. A vaccine aims to mimic the disease without producing any clinical signs.
There are three types of Equine Influenza vaccines available.
These are:
Killed or inactivated vaccines - the virus is killed usually by chemicals and then mixed with a liquid carrier (adjuvant). The vaccine may use the whole virus, various virus proteins or viral DNA or RNA. These vaccines frequently include multiple strains of influenza virus A2 representing the major circulating strains. The main advantage of these vaccines is the absence of pathogenicity, virus replication and subsequent spread between hosts. They are administered by intramuscular injection and a course of two injections four to six weeks apart is recommended. Optimal immunity is not present until at least 7-14 days after the second dose. For ongoing protection from disease, manufacturers recommend a booster vaccination at 6 months. Annual or more frequent boosters, depending on the likely exposure of the horse to circulating virus, are then required.
Live modified vaccines - these vaccines have been made safe through a process called attenuation (decreasing the virulence of the virus for the horse). Horses that have been infected by EI virus have been shown to be protected from reinfection for about 12 months so it would be expected that a live virus vaccine would give superior protection to the inactivated vaccines. However the vaccine did not provide this level of protection and while they did provide quicker and stronger immunity than inactivated vaccines anecdotal evidence suggests they have not had widespread uptake. They do present the risk of viral spread following their use. An intranasal cold adapted modified live equine influenza virus vaccine based on a Kentucky 1991 A/Equi 2 virus is available in North America. It is licensed for vaccination of non-pregnant animals over 11 months of age using a single dose of vaccine followed by boosters at 6 month intervals. There is evidence of early onset of protection (as early as 7 days) following the use of this vaccine.
Recombinant vaccines - these vaccines are another form of "live vaccine" but because they require different technology and approvals process it is convenient to treat them as a separate type. In these vaccines selected genes from the equine 2 influenza virus are inserted into another "safe" non disease causing virus. A recombinant canary pox vector based equine influenza vaccine is available in Europe and the USA. The vaccine is given by intramuscular injection and a two dose priming regime is recommended with boosters at a six month interval. The onset of immunity has been documented at 14 days after administration of the first dose and this is probably one of the reasons that Australia is planning on importing to import this type of EI vaccine for use in creating their "buffer zones".
The New Zealand Equine Health Association (NZEHA) has been preparing with MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) for the past ten years for an Equine Influenza incursion. As part of that preparedness we have registered two killed equine influenza vaccines. The registrations for these vaccines are held by MAFBNZ and at this time we have no stock of vaccine in NZ. The original plan was to have the vaccine registered so we could quickly source stocks from overseas in the face of an outbreak. It was planned to be able to vaccinate unaffected horses distant from an infected area to create a "buffer zone" while movement control was applied and eradication attempted in the affected group.
We have since reviewed this approach and on balance we consider that while we have only inactivated vaccines to use in an incursion we would probably not initially use vaccination. Inactivated vaccines take too long to generate immunity in the horse and the real risk that vaccinated horses can still contract the disease, albeit with fewer or no symptoms, and excrete virus thus potentially adding to the spread of the disease is of real concern.
Most of the vaccines we encounter as humans are very effective and impart long standing immunity against the disease they are designed to protect against. When we look at the available vaccines against equine influenza and also human influenza this is not the case.
To understand why, we have to look both at the virus and the vaccine. The Equine Influenza virus is constantly changing how it is seen by horse's immune system. These subtle changes are called antigenic drift (the virus presents a different face to the horse's immune system). Every so often there is significant change in the virus and a new subtype is identified. New subtypes are named after the place where they were first identified so we see names like Prague, Suffolk, Ohio, Miami, Kentucky, Wisconsin etc. attached to the influenza virus. These constant subtle changes in the virus are the reason why horses can catch influenza more than once, even in consecutive years.
Although vaccination can prevent disease, the available EI vaccines neither fully prevent infection nor transmission of the virus. However, vaccinated horses, in response to EI infection, shed less virus for shorter periods and show fewer or no detectable clinical signs than fully susceptible horses. The immunity generated in horses after vaccination is relatively short lived so unless a horse is constantly challenged its immunity wanes and it can be reinfected quite quickly. There is no carrier state ( ie the virus does not remain in the normal recovered horse as is the case with Equine Herpes Virus) in horses that have been infected with Equine Influenza.
In countries where the virus is endemic it is because the infection keeps circulating through the horse population. For vaccination to have much impact on the rate at which EI circulates and reinfects horses, in a country in which the disease is endemic, it is necessary to have a strict vaccination program involving about 70% of the horse population. If we were to apply this to New Zealand with about 120,000 horses, we would need to vaccinate 84000 and at a cost of approximately $375 +GST for an initial three dose course of killed vaccine per horse the first year cost would be about $30 million.
With these subtle changes to the virus, vaccine manufacturers are always chasing a moving target. They are constantly upgrading their vaccines with the latest subtypes. This process takes a couple of years at least. So when there is a new outbreak it is important to firstly type the virus and then select the most appropriate vaccine.
Most influenza vaccines have at least two subtypes and generally include American and European strains.
We have no word yet from Australia as to the subtype they have but if it is the Wisconsin 2003 subtype as widely suggested, vaccines containing Kentucky 1997 subtype would be as close as we could get and we understand it would be relatively effective.
This combination of poor immunity, antigenic drift and the use of out of date or wrong subtype vaccines gives rise to a real problem we have already alluded to when confronted with this disease. Vaccinated horses will be reinfected and as they have some protection they will show few if any symptoms (ie be subclinical) but still shed virus and be a source of new infections. This makes detection more difficult and more expensive as we have to rely on a wider range of laboratory tests.
In the face of an outbreak there is the confusion created with positive blood results as to whether they are due to vaccine or natural infection. In those countries where vaccination is practised there are regular episodes of disease and every five or so years there is a major outbreak.
It must be pointed out that vaccination on its own has not ever resulted in EI eradication. It may have a place alongside stringent biosecurity measures and movement controls.
Vaccination may be used to protect animals in certain sub sectors /regions of the horse industry and /or to reduce the economic impact of this disease.
In conclusion I would like to include a table taken from a recent Australian Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases' paper on the pros and cons of vaccination. I have taken the liberty of making it relevant to New Zealand with our current EI freedom.
Advantages and disadvantages of vaccination for EI
Advantages
Vaccination can prevent clinical disease.
Vaccination reduces the susceptibility of at-risk horses, reduces the severity of clinical signs and the level of viral shedding if they become infected.
Vaccination can reduce farm-to-farm spread of infection.
Disadvantages
Vaccination may mask clinical signs so vaccinated horses will need to be identified and monitored for evidence of infection.
Serological monitoring will be difficult, even though tests are available to differentiate vaccinated horses. Some tests used in this respect may not be internationally validated.
The movement of sub-clinically infected vaccinated horses may spread infection to previously unaffected areas.
Vaccination may prolong the need for movement restrictions because it may slow the transmission and spread of infection within areas.
Vaccinating selected regions will lead to the country being separated into free and vaccinated areas. This will result in differential movement requirements and the need for infrastructure (permits, border controls, etc) to maintain integrity of free areas.
Vaccination will have an impact in terms of registration and passport issues and the practical control measures required before many horse events can proceed.
Vaccination is not an immediate option, it will take time to import vaccine (permit process), deploy vaccine and train vaccinators, vaccinate the population and for immunity to develop.
In the case of the recombinant vaccine there may difficulties with its registration and there would likely be restrictions placed on how and who may use the vaccine.
Vaccination may affect performance in the short term.
Vaccine use is likely to extend the duration of an outbreak and delay ability to declare freedom.
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