Horse 'Flu Outbreak In Hong Kong

A recent paper published in an English Veterinary Journal (DG Powell, KL Watkins, PH Li, and KF Shortridge Outbreak of equine influenza among horses in Hong Kong during 1992. Veterinary Record Vol. 136, 1995 pg. 531) has some important lessons for Australia. In 1992, an outbreak of influenza occurred among horses stabled at the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, even though all the racehorses in Hong Kong are vaccinated against influenza. About 37% of the 955 horses stabled in the racing stables at Hong Kong showed signs of the disease. The most severely affected horses were those imported from countries where the disease does not occur. The authors concluded that while vaccination did not prevent influenza, the disease in vaccinated horses was less severe and the signs lasted a shorter period than when horses are unvaccinated. This highlights the need for more effective influenza vaccines. Training was stopped when horses showed signs of influenza, which appeared to reduce the severity of the disease. The outbreak had a severe effect on racing in Hong Kong with the postponement of 7 races.

http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/rirdc/articles/disease/flu.htm

Ferg,

Where did our quarantine system fail?

I assume it came from another country.

Whilst its not the time for a whichhunt, my question is, was this avoidable, ie could and should it have been detected before it caused this much commercial and possibly equine damage?

Regards

Timesman

The question i pose is even though we have never had an outbreak of this in australia, why couldnt the industry as a whole band together and vaccinate all australian horses against this virus.

The comparative cost of such a preventative measure would run into the tens of millions obviously however the cost of an outbreak to the industry will run into the hundreds of millions.

The comparative cost of the human fluvax to pharmacies is relatively cheap, around $11. So such a measure would be relatively cheap and i believe such vaccinations could easily be fully or partially government funded.

This of course would have to be done annually as the virus do mutate and change. However, a simple injection by the vet before the start of the flu season would ensure the horse would not become infected with the EI.

EI as it known, for those who dont know is an airborne virus which is past from horse to horse through viral particles usually entering the nasal and respiratory passages. Thus, the lockdown of horses not being able to be transferred or moved is therefore done to limit the contact of infected horses with other and hopefully stifle the transmission.

Whichever way this works out, prevention is better than cure and i do believe government and racing bodies should be looking at vaccination in the near future!