Heath Ryan expresses his views on vaccination.

Heath Ryan has a lot to lose during this out break of Equine Influenza. He has worked all his life to build up his wonderful stud, produce excellent sport horses and strive to make an Australian Olympic team, with more passion and enthusiasm than you will ever find. However, poor management of the EI outbreak could take much of this from him, so it is interesting to know that Heath believes “vaccinating the whole country is a bugger of a way to go”. We spoke to Heath this morning to get his views on vaccinating.

“I have been told that early next week the DPI are going to start to vaccinate in an exclusion zone, like back burning in a bush fire. I believe this is the best step forward and for me personally is a win-win situation. So far we are still EI free, however it is only 2km away and in Scone it is spreading 2kms a day in a westerly direction. With the westerly winds yesterday we would expect to start seeing symptoms in our horses on Wednesday. If we were not to get the flu now but did so, say in November then people who have had it now would have competition horses fit by the time we are just starting the quarantine stage. I still believe vaccinating the whole country is not the way we should go, nevertheless there is huge pressure to start doing this. We still have a chance to eradicate it, but once we start a nation wide vaccination program that chance is lost forever. Australia would then be reliant on the vaccine and it is just not good enough to keep the disease away, pockets of it would always be breaking out as people failed to keep up the vaccination program.

“People are just not taking this situation seriously enough and want a quick fix solution. The DPI is starting to get a handle on it, initially they had a fundamentally good action plan for the horses, but the people have always been the problem with the initial spread of the disease.

“The politicians do not understand. They have commented that very little of the first 1.2 million grant for instant relief has been taken up. I asked one of them if they know how you take a horses temperature, their answer was no. You stick a thermometer up their bum and they are armed with lethal back legs, I told him. We are taking 200 temperatures every day and the horses armoury is getting better every day with back legs, front legs and teeth. We are at war on the front line, trying to stay alive, not sitting at home looking how to get money on the computer.”

On that poignant note we left Heath on the war front and will speak to him again early next week to see what is happening about the “back burning”.

• Please note that Heath’s property is in a unique situation. Heath had eight horses at the Maitland ODE on the 18th and 19th of August and therefore has been in quarantine virtually ever since. He is surrounded by properties effected by EI but none of his 200 horses have shown any symptoms of the virus.

But what if this was Bird Flu????

We all acknowledge that DPI was too slow to enforce quarantine restrictions and to stop horse movements; too slow to recognise that it takes at least 10 days for blood tests to become positive (we have known this in humans for years); too slow to realise that a negative virus culture does not mean no virus (we have known this too) and that people seemed to sit on their hands shake their heads and tut tut rather than be pro-active.

But in some ways this was a practice run for a disease effecting humans- say Bird Flu or the like. Are we all confident that authorities would be prompter in their response if humans were involved ??? I don't think so - this is bureaucracy at it's most inept. Get a single person in charge who knows what they are doing - import someone if necessary who can not be swayed by the lobbying of various self interested groups. Better education is essential - people still think it is only a disease of Thoroughbreds. There are even vets turning up at properties in SE Qld without proper protective gear feeling safe just because there is no virus in their suburb - yet. Please remember there is an incubation period where your horse looks and behaves entirely normally but is still shedding virus.

The only bright topic at present is the weather - as like most viruse sand bacteria - it hates the heat and drying - so roll on the drought!!!

Lets beat this virus!

I agree that we do not have much updated information available to us. The DPI web sites are inundated as I have been trying for ages to get through with no success.

Because people are being slack they are helping to spread it around further. Due to the close nature of some horse farms/studs it is bound to travel from place to place in close vicinity to each other.
So far I am clean here in the north west of Brisbane but I wonder how long it will take to reach us if people are taking risks whether they be infected or not. Just today my neighbor went out with his truck and trailer to deliver hay to several different people! I bet he hasn't taken the proper procedures!!! Where did he pick it up from? Did the supplier on farm take the proper care? I hope so.

If people would just try and wait it out then from what we are hearing it will be eradicated. I know how much of an inconvenience it is (and expensive) as I and many other friends have been hit by the inconvenience alone, let alone the expenses etc.. We are also lucky not to need the horses to survive. I for one have a quarter horse who had a bad case of pneumonia while at a trainers a few years ago, he already has lung and respiratory problems although when built up slowly into work he has no problems whatsoever, although if he were to get this virus it would not be good for him. I hate to think about it getting to him. I have him away from the boundaries and on ROBERT MCDOWELLS herbal mix.

From what I can read about, the EI virus has stayed in the areas that have been monitored from the original horses leaving places infected, all horses close by (to my knowledge) will/can get it until all in the areas will have it, if they are kept contained until it runs its course in those areas then the whole of Australia will surely be safe again.

After "talking/listening" to others from overseas they all recommend that we control it before it takes over Australia. We will need to vaccinate twice yearly, every horse we own (I only own 5) and that will add to the already rising costs of horse ownership. We still have to maintain a stock stand still if they vaccinate anyway!?

This is only my opinion formed by reading what is available on the internet and talking with a couple of people from overseas that have dealt with it. The lack of information daily is one problem but the people taking risks is the other.

Lets beat this Virus.
Sharon

Another EI Positive for Eastern Creek

Another stallion at the Eastern Creek quarantine facility had tested positive to EI on Friday.

Read the full story.

Class Action for EI Outbreak

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Lack of Knowledge

I am a small time breeder in NSW. Although the EI virus is still some 300km away from us, at the moment, I think we are all getting sick and tired of hearing that the horse stand still in NSW is working. I have just been reading another web site on the EI virus and it has stated that in the last 24hr's from today (14/09/07) that there have been another 300 properties added to the infected list.

We are fortunate that we do not rely on the horse industry as our sole income, however their are many people that do, we have many friends that do and they are hurting..

I believe it is only a matter of time before the virus reaches our area (Riverina area) and then onto Victoria. The Government must take some fast action on vaccinating all the remaining horses that are unaffected in NSW and all other states. The virus is here now, and it will be here to stay. It's not only the racing industry effected, every single person that owns a horse is having their lives turned upside down in some way.

This situation we are all finding ourselves in needs to be classified as a complete disaster. Over the next coming months there will be many, many events cancelled in every equine field, most of these events will be completely lost for the whole of the 2007-2008 season, and in turn this will be history lost.

We must work smarter in trying to deal with this virus, the lack of information being transmitted to all horse people is huge. For example, when the virus first broke out there were a lot of people within the first week, in our area, still going about their business, as far as they knew this only affected race horses. They had no idea they were doing anything wrong. What about anyone that doesn't have access to the internet? I have spent a lot of my time browsing different sites since this broke out, and the amount of updated information even on the net is dwindling. Maybe the government officials are getting sick of it.

I am sure I speak for all horse people in Australia, we have enough to deal with, with the ongoing drought, let alone something like this which should never have happened in the first place.

Andrea