Vet raised flu fears in 2003

FOUR years before the outbreak of horse flu in Australia a senior quarantine vet warned that truck drivers and others handling horses arriving at Sydney Airport needed to take precautions against spreading disease.

The Callinan inquiry was told that the virus, which first appeared at Eastern Creek Quarantine Station on August 17, had probably been spread by a truck driver, groom, veterinary officer or AQIS officer who had been in contact with horses.

In a 2003 memo, Phil Widders, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service's chief veterinary officer for NSW, recommended that people handling horses at the airport take measures such as wearing overalls, showering and changing clothes.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Tony Meagher, SC, put to Jennifer Gordon, executive manager of AQIS, that Dr Widders had written this in late 2003. In June 2004 the regional manager for NSW, at her request, had sent her a copy of Dr Widders's notes.

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Disease control poor, horse flu inquiry told

The government-run Eastern Creek quarantine station was not subject to the same strict risk-management procedures as a private centre at Sandown in Melbourne until the outbreak of equine influenza in August.

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