EI vaccine teams deployed to Purple Zone

30 Oct 2007

The State Government has deployed vaccination teams into the equine influenza (EI) Purple Zone and is renewing calls on horse owners to continue reporting sick horses, Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said today.

“Our objective is to eventually have at least 80 % of the horse population in the Purple Zone immune or resistant to EI through either vaccination or infection,” he said.

“We know there is a massive horse population in the Purple Zone and we need as much information as possible to ensure we conduct a well-informed and strategic vaccination campaign.

“There are currently 5050 infected properties in NSW and about 41,000 known infected horses. Thankfully, most of the State remains free of infection but reporting sick horses remains vital to the success of the eradication campaign. It provides crucial information to the vaccination program.

“Owners of uninfected horses should inform their own veterinarian. This is a mechanism for uninfected horses to be recorded for potential vaccination, and a decision will be made based on their location, herd size and proximity to known infection.

“I want to stress from the outset that we are conducting a targeted vaccination campaign, NOT a blanket vaccination campaign and people must be patient.”

Minister Macdonald said priority is being given to areas in the Purple Zones where there are large numbers of uninfected horses to build-up immunity in these herds and provide a dead end to the disease’s path.
“Vaccinating these uninfected horses will assist rapid strategic disease control,” he said.

“Therefore we need to know which horses are infected and which are still disease free so we can target the limited supply vaccine to deliver the best result.

“Horses on infected properties or within one kilometre of a known infected property are not being vaccinated.

“Vaccinating infected horses is a waste of time, vaccine and resources as the horses will naturally become immune as a result of the infection.“Visiting already infected properties could also potentially compromise the biosecurity of the vaccination teams who then move on to uninfected properties.

“So if you are in a Purple Zone and have horses that are infected or showing EI symptoms you must report it to your local vet.”

Infected or suspect horses in the Red, Amber or Green Zones should be reported to the Equine Influenza hotline 1800 675 888

Owners of uninfected horses who want to enquire about vaccination should contact their local vet in the first instance.