EI Experiment

Centennial Park is about to undertake the following test, hopefully leading to a model by which all of those stranded in various places can be released from our Equine incarceration!
Cheers,
Kate Wallis & Spike

Centennial Park inmates
SENTINEL PROPOSITION FOR CONFIRMING CLEARANCE AFTER
EQUINE INFLUENZA INFECTION

We at CPEC have been given the opportunity to create a model with which to clear affected areas of Equine Influenza after they are no longer infective.
We are going to have all our horses at CPEC tested with a nasal swab and blood test on 11th September 2007.
Dr Keith Hart from the RLPB is going to supervise the collection of samples in conjunction with the DPI.
If as expected the nasal swabs are negative for virus we will follow on with the Sentinel Project as described below.
We will need to be vigilant about bringing the virus back into the centre which would cause the test to fail.
The sentinel horses are unaffected and have no immunity to the EI virus which is the ultimate test to see that we no longer pose a risk to other horses.

Now that you are all familiar with the bio security procedures I know you will all work at making this project work.
Please do not go to places frequented by other horse people before you come onto the centre and you will need to scrub both in and out.

The sentinel horses will be strictly protected from direct human contact.
Thank you for your cooperation through this emergency.
Once the project is complete you can be confident that you will not be able to cause the spread of this virus on your person from CPEC.
Proposal
This theory is based on in vivo testing for disease which should work and if it does as expected
we will be able to reduce the quarantine periods by confirming that affected populations of
horses are no longer contagious albeit the horses may still appear sick from the effects of the
virus or secondary bacterial infections. I stress this is far more easily applied in contained
population groups but can be applied in extensive areas as well.
This proposal is based on the prospect of using “EI naïve” horses as sentinels in determining the
eradication of virus from a previously infected site.

The Sentinel Project
We have a unique opportunity to test this theory at Centennial Park Equestrian Centre as early
as Monday 10th September 2007. The last infected horse at CPEC was confirmed on the
morning of Monday 27th August 2007. Should we be successful then we would have a model
with which to clear other closed groups of horses in containment areas such as Parkes
Showground, Warwick and Randwick Racecourse.
Horses affected with EI should only be contagious for 10 days after contracting the virus. If we
introduce “EI naïve” horses from unaffected populations after the contagious period to confront
any potential remaining virus, these horses would become sentinels for the virus. These horses
could be moved around within the quarantined population and constantly monitored for any signs
of infection.
Should as I expect these “EI naïve” horses remain healthy for 5 days (Suggestion only) then I
am of the view that these quarantined areas could be “opened” as the risk of infection spreading
from these areas has been eliminated and the much-needed resources could be freed up to
contain and eradicate fresh EI outbreaks.

The benefits of this proposal.
• We can free up valuable resources.
• We can quell the “fear” in the equine community and give a huge psychological boost for all
concerned.
• We can concentrate on the rehabilitation of the affected horses without the quarantine
restrictions.
• We can hopefully clear up regions and start limited movement of horses.
• From what I can see clinically the Eastern Creek ’07 virus has a far milder affect on horses
than the Johannesburg ’86 virus so there may be some hope that the horses will recover
quicker and be able to resume training and hopefully begin a return to normal business.
• We could start collecting plasma from the cleared horse populations to administer to
newborn foals in the face of an outbreak to give them some protection as they confront the
virus.

Breeding Dilemma Explained

So many people are hurting as a result of the EI outbreak and some are getting a little annoyed that all the attention is on the Racing and Thoroughbred industry. But the fact is those industries play such a big part in the economic well being of the country. However, the breeding dilemma is the same for all trying to produce foals this season.

Horse Deals spoke to Vinery Stud Bloodstock Manager, Adam White (pictured) to get some perspective on the size of the Thoroughbred breeding industry and the size of the loss caused by this EI outbreak by using Vinery as an example.

“Vinery is about ten minutes from Scone and is one of the oldest Thoroughbred studs in the country. The area was first settled in the early 1800’s and has pretty much been a breeding farm since than. The Stud used to be called Segenhoe until it was bought by Tom Simon in 1999. He changed the name to Vinery after a farm he had in Kentucky.

“We had eight stallions on the roster for this season and two are shuttle stallions. Red Ransome (pictured) that came from England is still stuck in quarantine and More Than Ready came in from the USA about three weeks before the outbreak. We hope to get Red Ransome out of quarantine by mid October, but even if we do he will miss the early mares.

“We have about 250 mares on the property here, some resident and some which have arrived to be covered. But we have between 800 and 900 booked in this season. Many of them are at what we call “walk on” farms in the area where they are foaled and then “walk on” to us to be served. (They do not literally walk to the farm.) And of course these outside mare are at the moment subject to the lockdown.

“We start covering mares on the 1st September and go pretty much up until Christmas time, with the serving tapering off in November, as normally the late foals do not sell so well. But in a situation like this when the country wide foal crop will be down, we just need to breed as many horses as we can, so there is a market for them as yearlings. The buying bench at the yearling sales are just going to have to buy the odd latish foal, as there is going to be a limited supply of horses.

“Once they do lift the ban and we can move mares there is going to be a back log as the stallions can only serve up to four mares a day. The Thoroughbred Breeders Association of NSW is lobbying to get the movement restriction lifted here in the Hunter Valley so we can all cover some mares. The likelihood of that is pretty good and we will know more later in the week.

“At the moment we do not have EI on the property. We introduced strict bio-security as soon as we heard, but so did all the studs. The virus is on a couple off farms just two to three kilometers away. It is all around us and we are expecting to get it the way it is spreading.

“There are the big studs losing a lot of money, but there are also a lot of small breeders who are losing here too. We are not the only industry that relies on horses for an income and just because they may not be losing as much money does not mean that they are any less important.

“The DPI have done the best at containment, but they just seem to be slowing the spread of the virus. It will cost a lot of money to implement a vaccination programme, but as time goes by the virus is costing us more money. You speak to anyone overseas and they say our only hope now is to vaccinate. People will have to take it upon themselves to make sure their horses are vaccinated and then we can move on”.

Read more about Vinery Stud

In reply to Vaccinate Now

I have been told by my vet that vaccinating against EI will only make the problem worse because the vaccine does not stop the horse from contracting the flu. So when they do, the symptoms are milder and therefore harder to detect which makes it harder to contain horses that might be missed. That is why "they" don't want us to vaccinate.
To me that makes sense.

But I have a question;
For the horses that are in lockdown for instance Morgan Park, can the horses that are recovering from the flu get re-infected by the other horses that are still in the beginning stages? As they are still all confined together.
Jane

Vaccinate Now

What is wrong with our authorities? Is vaccinating our horses an admission that they are unable to deal with the outbreak of EI. I would say yes. Ausvet have vaccination has a last resort on there management plan .
With the contagious nature of EI and the continued outbreaks pressure must start to be put on the authorities to wake up to them selves and take a proactive approach .

Phillip Aikenhead
Jimboomba Qld

Stop The Blame

I am getting just a bit sick and tired of hearing everyone moan and groan about the racing industry. I own and train racehorses, but I have also had eventers, showjumpers and hacks and I can sympathise with everyone. However, whether you like it or not, the racing industry is more commercial, more televised and more of a money earner (and NO, not just for the gambler!!) than any other equestrian events. Therefore, it is going to attract more attention. I agree, regardless of discipline, this virus is equal to everyone and all that earn a living through horses should be compensated.

There is a call for the T’bred industry to start using AI. However, whilst this is a nice thought, it cannot be done due to the rule of the International Studbook. If we were to ignore this, then our horses would not be allowed to compete overseas. And YES, this affects us as well as all the other disciplines that have to compete overseas. Hence is the reason why we need to have Shuttle Stallions. People seem to forget that warmbloods and other certain breeds can import frozen semen to Australia to try and keep the breed here up to standard with the best in the world, well it is the same for T’bred breeders, only we don’t have the luxury of imported semen and have no choice but to run the shuttle program.

So it’s not an easy fix, stop the blame on the T’bred industry and wake up to the fact that we are ALL affected by this virus equally.

Regards,Kerrie Johnstone

NSW Mounties Confined To Barracks.

All 36 horses stabled at the Redfern Mounted Police complex in preparation for their roll in policing the recent APEC Conference have contracted EI.

Acting Inspector Richard Martin told Horse Deals that one horse came down with the flu and the complex was locked down from the 28th August. “The complex has permanent stables for 32 horses and we had portable stables for an extra four in preparation for APEC. But we have been closed down by the DPI since the 28th August and that prevented us from operating during APEC. The quarantine period will last for 50 days, although it can be reduced at any time, but only by the DPI.

“All have had the flu and today all the temperatures are back to normal. We had none that were really ill, in fact the symptoms were not much different from the colds one or two catch each year, except all the horses had it. We have our own vet here who is contracted to look after the horses, and have been in contact with the DPI via email. Their Infectious Diseases Control Unit has been in to make sure out decontamination procedures were correct and in place with signage etc.

“We don’t think our not being there had an impact on the policing of APEC which went very well. But it was disappointing from our point of view, as we had been training for this for 18 months. Everyone in the Unit has put in a big effort to getting these horses up to the standard necessary, so it was disappointing not to be involved”.

The NSW Mounted Police have quite a history at Redfern in inner Sydney, as the mounted barracks were established in 1907. Redfern incorporates an up to date complex including stables, and indoor arena, exercise yard, sand roll and horse walker etc.

Good News for Qld

"Latest developments - as of Wednesday 12 SeptemberFrom Thursday 13 September 2007, Queensland will be split in to two equine influenza zones - a Control zone and a Restricted zone. These zones will facilitate future changes to the movement conditions as we become increasingly more confident that the influenza virus is limited to the South-East of the State and the Darling Downs. It´s important you find out which zone you´re in. Visit the ´About the two zones in Queensland page´ to find out more"

Jane,
Central Qld

Please note, on Sunday, 9 September, testing for equine influenza at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory produced negative results for the horses at Julia Creek and Gordonvale. As a precautionary measure, quarantine measures remain in place at those two properties while the necessary follow-up tests continue. Until final results on these two properties are received by DPI&F, Gordonvale and Julia Creek remain in the current list of Queensland infected properties.

Photos From Morgan Park Lockdown

Thanks to Rochelle Aitkenhead for sending in some pics of the lockdown area. Also, a big Happy 18th Birthday to Rochelle for the 16th September! Hopefully you guys get the lockdown rocking for a great party!

All the floats.

The stables.

The "laundry".

The all important vets: (L-R) Janine, Craig, Heather and Stacey.

The feed shed.