A decade on, is Australia ready for an equine influenza outbreak?

equine influenza

A DECADE on from the equine influenza outbreak that threatened to bring the thoroughbred racing industry to its knees, a leading vet from the Flemington Equine Clinic believes the country is much better prepared to handle a similar scenario today.

In 2007 the nation was brought to a standstill by the outbreak of the virus, which prompted racing venues to temporarily close, horses to be quarantined around the country and even jeopardised that year’s running of the Melbourne Cup.

Dr. Ian Church told HorseBetting.com.au that a lack of exposure to the virus 10 years ago is what made the country so susceptible to a potentially disastrous outcome.

“The virus is actually a pretty common one around Europe and the UK, and those horses are routinely vaccinated,” Dr Church said.

“When the virus made its way across to Australia, it was the Sydney people who were lax in their quarantine standards and practises, which allowed it to become an issue.”

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NSW was the only state that was truly effected by the virus after measures were put in place to stop the spread.

On August 26 161 of the 165 horses at Centennial Parklands and other horses at Parkes, Moonbi, Berry, Wilberforce, Cattai and Wyong were confirmed as being infected by the virus, and all the horses had a common link, given they were found to have been together at an event at Maitland the previous week.

The government determined that the outbreak was as a result of “human error”, something that Dr Church believes to be the case.

“I don’t think it was ever really released who was the cause of it, but it was most likely people being lax.

“All it takes is being in contact with an infected horse, then not adequately decontaminating yourself and your clothes and it can spread quite quickly.”

Quarantine zones were set up all around NSW, but when a horse in Hamilton displayed symptoms of the disease just three days after the confirmation of the Maitland outbreak, many feared that the EI virus may be widespread and hard to contain.

The tests on the horse came back negative, but a positive test in Brisbane lead to quarantine zones being set up in the sunshine state.

The biggest impact racing-wise was the cancelation of the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival following the outbreak at Randwick racecourse. This also meant that NSW horses were excluded from the Melbourne Cup.

By the conclusion of the year however, the numbers of positive tests were dwindling and fears began to dissipate in regards to a nation-wide epidemic. NSW was declared free of equine influenza by the state Primary Industries Minister on 29 February 2008. Queensland, which was the only other state impacted by EI, declared itself free of the virus just a few weeks later.

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Dr Church said setting up the quarantine zones helped expedite the process.

“They worked really quickly,” he said.

“We put any horses that we had down in Melbourne into quarantine, but none showed to have the virus, but those in Sydney and NSW were able to contain the virus which really neutralised its impact.”

A decade later and Australia is exponentially better prepared for a similar scenario unfolding, and now owners and trainers from around the globe continue to bring their horses for the big events in both Melbourne and Sydney without any fears.

Dr Church said if a similarly infected horse were to arrive in 2017 it would almost be a non-issue.

“The industry was on the back foot a bit, but officials and most importantly people in direct contact with the horses learned a lot from the scare.

“Quarantining of horses is much more common and there is much more awareness of the virus and its potential harmful effects. I doubt a similar situation would ever arise again.”

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