NSW Equine influenza daily update - 9 October 2007

SITUATION UPDATE

Planning is progressing on a proposal for extensions of the purple zone to free up movements within areas of high horse density already heavily infected. This will greatly reduce the economic hardship caused by the disease.

There are currently 3,867 Infected Properties (IPs), 387 Dangerous Contact Properties (DCPs) and 443 Suspect Properties (SPs). The number of cases to date is staying within the ‘optimistic’ projection for the disease outbreak. DPI epidemiologists predicted more than 2 weeks ago that there would be about 4,000 IP’s. The number of IPs has continued to fall. For a graph of this data see Situation Reports on the DPI website.

There have been extensions outside our containment lines due to transfer via human movements. This has required creation of new red and amber zones and a reduction in the green zone in the south west.We continue to be grateful to the majority of horse owners who are doing all they can to maintain the high standards of biosecurity required to combat the spread of EI. This is a highly infectious disease and seems to take any possible opportunity to infect horses. Be particularly careful to wash hands for 2 minutes and change to clean clothes when going to or from properties. If possible do not allow any visitors near your horses and don’t go near anyone else’s. We must continue our efforts to contain the disease.

Vaccinations

Vaccination will not prevent infection but suppresses the effects of the disease. Vaccination remains a key element in our plans to contain and eradicate Equine Influenza because vaccinated horses shed much less virus.The vaccination of horses in buffer zones continues across the State and this is our highest priority. We are currently limited by a shortage of veterinarians and would welcome further assistance. This is a live vaccine which must be administered by a veterinarian. We hope to have all buffer zones completed within 2 weeks.

If you believe you are in a buffer zone in the Armidale, Dubbo, Berry, Gloucester, Parkes/Forbes or Barmedman areas, and you haven’t yet been contacted about the vaccination occurring in the zone, please ring the Hotline on 1800 675 888 or fill in a vaccination form from the website.

There are currently 9 Local Vaccination Centres (LVCs) operational or in an advanced stage of establishment including:Mittagong, Gloucester, Dubbo, Armidale, Forbes/Parkes, Wellington, Mudgee and Barmedman. To date 2184 horses have been vaccinated in Round 1.

An LVC has been set up at Temora to protect horses in a buffer zone around Barmedman.

There has been an allocation from the Federal Minister of vaccine sufficient to treat 44,000 horses. When the number of vaccine doses required to protect the buffer areas has been finalised, there will be vaccine available to protect individual horses as yet uninfected in the red or purple zones.

We need to limit the ongoing new infections because these offer the risk of spread by human movement through our buffer zones.

The DPI is requesting horse organisations to advise the likely demand for vaccine in the various zones. A survey will be forwarded to people registered on the Australian Horse Industry Council’s Database. The vaccine to protect individual horses will be administered at owner’s expense.

Community meetings

Tonight there are community meetings in Berry, Dubbo and Denman; tomorrow night’s meetings are at Scone, Forbes and Barmedman. Barmedman district readers should note that the venue for the Barmedman meeting is at the Barmedman Bowling Club at 7 pm, Wednesday 10 October.

In the news

Community meetings to provide accurate information about the disease and how it is spread will help horse owners control the disease. Dates have been set for the Upper and Lower Hunter, Central West, Central Coast, South Coast, Sydney/Southern Highlands, with others now being organised for the New England/North West and other locations – watch the community meetings web page from the EI website page for details. See the full media release at http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/aboutus/news/recent-news/agriculture-news-releases/ei-community-meetings-get-under-way
It is anticipated that spread along roads, most likely through people/vehicle movements is spearheading the advance of EI. The border of the northern buffer zone north of Tamworth is being assessed to ensure the most effective alignment with topographical features, known horse concentrations and most likely avenues of spread. A new buffer zone is being implemented south east of Warwick and north east of Tenterfield on the NSW/Queensland border to prevent EI entry from Queensland.
Ongoing review and amendment of zones and other containment strategies is driven by the need to reflect new epidemiological information on the way the disease is spreading and predictions of future patterns of spread.

Media releases

One media release was issued today. The release outlined elements of the Government’s communications strategy to better inform the public about steps being taken to stop the spread of EI. These steps include community meetings to be held in Narromine and Merriwa today and multi-agency teams established in different parts of the State to deliver EI information locally. The Deputy CVO reaffirmed that public support is crucial for the effective control of disease spread, in particular, compliance with movement and biosecurity conditions.

Media releases can be accessed from the DPI EI website which is updated daily.

Communications

518 calls were received by the EI Hotline, a substantial increase over recent days. Most calls related to movements, followed by enquiries about possible new EI infections, although most of these related to areas of known infection. 4342 hits to DPI’s EI website were recorded in the 24 hours to close of business yesterday.
Development of materials for planned local community meetings continued, especially to reinforce the need for strict observance of biosecurity procedures by people in green and amber zones for effective disease containment.