Vaccinations to establish inner buffer zone south of Sunshine Coast

Thursday 25 October: There are currently 1640 infected properties (IP's) in Queensland, this is an increase of 76 from 23 October . DPI&F have introduced an inner buffer zone as part of the strategic plan to further contain this disease to South East Queensland. Vaccination, as part of DPI&F program of containment and eradication is continuing

More horses near the Sunshine Coast will be vaccinated to establish an inner buffer zone to help further contain equine influenza in South East Queensland.


Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Ron Glanville said the new inner buffer zone was part of a strategic plan to 'back-burn', as you would with a bushfire, to stop any further spread of horse flu.


"Like the outer buffer, we are using natural features like forests, national parks and mountain ranges to mark the boundaries of the inner buffer," he said.


The Southern Sunshine Coast inner buffer will run north-west from Wild Horse Mountain forestry tower (see attached map).


Further inner buffer zones are planned that run from Inglewood in the west, through Crows Nest and Esk districts and link to the Sunshine coast inner buffer.


This will effectively split the red zone in two containing the disease in the south east corner of the Red Zone.


Dr Glanville said veterinary teams would vaccinate all horses within a 10km wide strip to reduce the chance of infection through the areas with low horse populations.


"The vaccination teams working in the inner buffer are in addition to the teams already working to finalise the outer buffer zone," he said.
"To date, 27,000 dose of vaccine have been dispensed to veterinary teams.
"Progress in the outer buffer zone has gone very well with more than 95% of horses vaccinated in the Goondiwindi section.


"The Gympie section is about 70% complete, while the Chinchilla, Yarraman, Tweed and Granite Belt sections are about 50-60% complete.
"After eight weeks, horse flu in Queensland is still restricted to the South East corner of the state - this is directly attributable to the tight horse movement restrictions in the Red Zone and the buffer strategy, which help prevent any further spread.


"These restrictions may be relaxed in December depending on the success of our vaccination program, but for the time being it is critical that people continue complying with the movement restrictions, decontamination and other biosecurity precautions."


New maps showing the inner buffer zone can be viewed at www.dpi.qld.gov.au/equine-influenza


If you haven't already done so, all horse owners are required to register by completing the on-line form or calling 13 25 23 to complete the horse registration process over the phone.