Living with EI
Many owners are saying "Why not live with EI?"
What would it be like to have EI declared endemic? There are plenty of examples from overseas. If we call EI endemic, horse ownership in Australia will change radically from what we have enjoyed. Horses that are moved will have to be permanently identified by microchip and carry a passport with veterinary certificate of vaccination or a positive serology test (proving immunity).
The EFA estimate of this process is $300 per year. This is about what we expect.
A quote from UK vet Dr Louise Jolliffe: Call out fee approx £30. Vaccination £40 each so altogether cost of 2 visits & 1st & 2nd vaccination would b £140 for an individual horse.
Cost of horse ownership will increase. It might not be a great burden on the owner of racehorses or elite performance horses but will affect the average battler or pony club member.
Everyone going to a show, event, campdraft or whatever would have to show the passport and have the identification confirmed like the procedures for FEI examination on arrival. This will add considerably to the hassle of running horse events. People will only be able to arrive when the passport checks are being conducted. The FEI rules state that the examination must be done prior to entering the grounds and I see this as an impossible problem with our current ground designs.
The major problem is that the vaccines are not 100% and vaccinated horses still get infected and show the disease. If vaccination was effective there would not have been the recent outbreaks in Ireland and Japan or in Eastern Creek in 100% vaccinated horses. To prevent outbreaks and epidemics of EI it is expected that over 70% of horses will have to be vaccinated. Even then, as the virus mutates, we can still expect cases to occur and race meetings and other events to be cancelled.
Eradication is the best option and is still a realistic goal.
Rod Hoare
Industry Liaison
What would it be like to have EI declared endemic? There are plenty of examples from overseas. If we call EI endemic, horse ownership in Australia will change radically from what we have enjoyed. Horses that are moved will have to be permanently identified by microchip and carry a passport with veterinary certificate of vaccination or a positive serology test (proving immunity).
The EFA estimate of this process is $300 per year. This is about what we expect.
A quote from UK vet Dr Louise Jolliffe: Call out fee approx £30. Vaccination £40 each so altogether cost of 2 visits & 1st & 2nd vaccination would b £140 for an individual horse.
Cost of horse ownership will increase. It might not be a great burden on the owner of racehorses or elite performance horses but will affect the average battler or pony club member.
Everyone going to a show, event, campdraft or whatever would have to show the passport and have the identification confirmed like the procedures for FEI examination on arrival. This will add considerably to the hassle of running horse events. People will only be able to arrive when the passport checks are being conducted. The FEI rules state that the examination must be done prior to entering the grounds and I see this as an impossible problem with our current ground designs.
The major problem is that the vaccines are not 100% and vaccinated horses still get infected and show the disease. If vaccination was effective there would not have been the recent outbreaks in Ireland and Japan or in Eastern Creek in 100% vaccinated horses. To prevent outbreaks and epidemics of EI it is expected that over 70% of horses will have to be vaccinated. Even then, as the virus mutates, we can still expect cases to occur and race meetings and other events to be cancelled.
Eradication is the best option and is still a realistic goal.
Rod Hoare
Industry Liaison
posted by Horse Deals at
12:42 pm
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