Australian Research Should Help Improve Rider Safety in Eventing

As the Olympics approach, everyone is holding his or her breath in hopes that the eventing goes smoothly and safely, wihtout injury to horses or riders. It sounds like Hong Kong has done everything imaginable to ensure safety. And if there is a typhoon, they have made plans for rescheduling events!

Maybe one day we will look back on the past few years' high rate of injuries and sigh, "If we only knew back then, what we know now..." Moving in that direction, rider and horse safety in the sport could be improved soon thanks to new research in Australia. The study collates and analyzes data on falls and injuries over a period of years for the first time.

The research, funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and supported by the Equestrian Federation of Australia (EFA), is the culmination of a five-year national surveillance program, which shows that the number of injuries per competitor is in fact lower than previously thought.

Eventing is enormously popular in Australia and is conducted around the country at all levels, from young riders at pony clubs to Olympic competitors. This study focussed on the cross-country phase of eventing.

The results of the five-year surveillance program have been entered into a new database known as SHARE (Safety for Riders and Horses in Eventing).

RIRDC's General Manager of Established Industries, Margie Thomson, said the research would help inform those making the rules in equestrian sport.

"This research is important because it is the first time information has been collected for the sport of eventing alone. Most existing data on horse-related injuries and deaths does not distinguish between a whole range of horse-related activities with the potential to cause injury," Thomson said.

The data is based on 1732 rider falls at 444 events around the country between 2002 and 2006 and reveals the rate of rider falls is only three for every 100 starters. This is lower than previously thought.

The fact that the SHARE system of data collection can be used by other nations' equestrian federations offers the possibility of consistent data for international comparison and ultimately, a safer sport around the globe.

The research was prompted by a marked increase in the number of rider falls and fatalities, both in Australia and overseas in the late 1990s, which highlighted that there was little data on the health, social or financial costs of horse-related injuries.

The full report is available at www.rirdc.gov.au.

Equine Hospital Worker Diagnosed with Deadly Hendra Virus in Australia

This just in from the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) at Harvard University; please see other posts on this blog from the past week for more on the deadly Hendra virus and the recent spate of cases in the vicinty of the Australian city of Brisbane.

Begin report:

Queensland Health has confirmed that a person working at veterinary clinic on Brisbane's bayside has contracted infection with the potentially deadly Hendra virus. The person was among a number tested for the virus after several horses contracted the disease at a Redlands veterinary hospital. So far all other people who had been in close contact with the sick horses remain well.

Queensland Health's Dr Brad McCall says the worker was admitted to a Brisbane hospital yesterday [14 Jul 2008] for observation and was allowed to return home this afternoon.

"A veterinary worker has returned home from hospital with diagnosed Hendra virus infection and the worker remains well," he said. "We continue to work with the staff and other people who have been involved with this at the Redlands Veterinary clinic to monitor their health and to assist them with any questions they have."

Queensland health minister Stephen Robertson says the department will closely monitor the case in Brisbane, and the discovery of the virus in a north Queensland horse. "We would be relying on the expert advice of DPI & F [Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland] as to what this represents in terms of incidences amongst horses, our primary concern of course is in relation to the potential for horse to human contact and that's where we pay most of our attention," he said.

(end report)

Background and commentary from ISID:

No clinical details of the patient are provided in this report. The release of the patient from hospital suggests that his condition is not a cause for concern. More precise information would be appreciated.

Previously in Queensland in 1994, a fatal infection in horses and humans was attributed to a previously unknown paramyxovirus, now named Hendra virus after the district of Brisbane where the outbreak occurred. Hendra virus, together with Nipah virus, now constitutes the _Henipavirus_ genus of the family _Paramyxoviridae_. A 2nd case of Hendra virus infection in horses in Queensland was described in 2007.

The natural reservoir of these viruses is the fruit bat (genus _Pteropus_), which is abundant in regions extending from the western Pacific to the eastern coast of Africa. Serological studies have established that as many as half the fruit bats in colonies throughout these regions may have antibodies against this virus genus. Outbreaks of Hendra virus disease in horses and humans, however, have been limited to the Brisbane area of Queensland.

Hendra virus was first isolated from specimens collected during the outbreak of respiratory and neurological disease in horses and humans in Hendra in 1994. In that outbreak the 1st human cases of Hendra virus disease were recognized. Of the three individuals known to be infected, two had a respiratory illness with severe flu-like signs and symptoms. One of the three Hendra virus infections was marked by a delayed onset of progressive encephalitis. Two of the three human patients infected with Hendra virus died.

(end commentary from ISID)

Blogger's note: I have uncharacteristically pasted the exact reports from ISID here so that I would not misinterpret any of the information. This is a very serious situation, since Hendra is one of the few diseases that is transmitted from horses to humans. It is not stated if humans can in turn infect horses. Hendra is a suburb of Brisbane, in northeastern Australia, just below the famous Great Barrier Reef.

New Problems in Oz: Anthrax Kills a Horse in the Hunter Valley

Things were just getting back to normal in the Australian state of New South Wales, where an outbreak of Equine Influenza locked down the horse industry, canceled racing and shows, and delayed breedings since August. Transporting horses even short distances was forbidden.

All this after the Australian horse world had been affected by drought so severe that horse owners were being taught how to feed cardboard shreds as a substitute for forage. A bizarre condition known as "Australian stringhalt" was reported, in which horses passtured on drought-ravaged paddocks exhibit hitchy gait symptoms from eating certain plants.

Now comes the third blow: since Christmas, anthrax has killed 30 cattle and at least one horse near the horsey town of Scone in the lovely Hunter Valley north of Sydney. The area is home to many of Australia's leading horse breeding farms.

The Australian Broadcast Corporation is also reporting tonight that the first horse event to be allowed in the area since the EI outbreak had to be canceled because of the anthrax danger.

Anthrax is a bacterial disease carried by spores that live in the soil; they are usually dormant but drought often brings anthrax to the surface. Anthrax-infected carcasses are a common cause of an outbreak. For that reason, an animal that dies from anthrax must be burned until its bones are ash, according to the reports.

Cattle and one horse have died on nine different properties in the area, according to ABC.

Anthrax is deadly to horses and humans.

I hope this is the last tragic story I have to write this year. We began the year with EHV in Florida and I think I have reported on most of the major infectious equine diseases affecting horses somewhere on the planet. Blog readers by now must know what EHV, EI, EVA, CEM, WNV, PHF, VS, EIA, EEE and AHS stand for, since they popped up in the news reports of this blog in 2007. Strangles, salmonella and anthrax don't have acronyms but I have written about those contagious diseases, too, this year.

That Equine Infectious Diseases (Sellon and Long, 2007, Saunders/Elsevier Publishers) textbook/cd-rom was a good investment, after all.

Update: Read an article published January 9th about the anthrax cases in Australia here.

Equine Flu Disrupts Australian University Life, Students' Progress

It's spring at the University of Queensland, just a few weeks left until graduation. But students in the equine sciences and vet school will be getting first-hand experience with handling sick horses, as Equine Influenza seems to be affecting the first horses on campus.

It is expected that all of the 130 horses on campus will contract the disease and will be quarantined for up to seven weeks. This includes research horses; many Americans are aware that the University of Queensland is the home of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, the world's leading research center for that disease.

As a result, the university has filed these plans for protocol:

• All work with horses will cease immediately, including classes, riding and research;

• All areas with horses will be placed in quarantine with only a limited number of people designated for the care and welfare of animals being allowed into this area;

• Vehicle and personnel decontamination protocols will be put in place;

• All horse areas will be cordoned off to restrict entry of unauthorised personnel. Only essential vehicles will be allowed into these areas.

Students will be required to make up time lost from horse-related classes in the next semester.

Retired Vets, Vet Students from Across Australia Respond to Epidemic

(from a New South Wales Department of Primary Industries press release)

A concerted effort has seen animal health professionals from across Australia arrive in New South Wales to help with the Equine Influenza (EI) epidemic there.

Animal health officers, stock inspectors and veterinary officers, many of them retired, have been brought in from (Austrlian states) Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory and the ACT.

They are involved at the control centers at Orange and Camden, and their knowledge of rural areas is vital in making proposals a reality on the ground.

Many of these animal health professionals are in private practice and have been sourced from the Australian Veterinary Reserve, which involves non-government vets who are trained in national emergency animal disease preparedness.

Their roles vary from veterinary investigations to working in the field with the vaccination program.

Vet students are also working at the centers; the project is giving them valuable training experience.

Australian EI Crisis: Under Control or Out of Control?

Who can you believe with all the conflicting reports from Australia? The official message to the world via government press releases is "all quiet on the Aussie front, situation under control" while other reports would label it "SNAFU!"

The Courier Mail newspaper reports that 3000 people protested in Ipswich yesterday against the handling of the crisis:

"Dr David Lovell, director of Redlands Veterinary Surgery, commented at a 3000-strong protest rally in Ipswich against the DPI’s handling of the outbreak. 'The update last night was that equine flu was under control and that vaccination was proceeding very well,' he said. 'One of the things that comes to my mind is when America invaded Iraq and Saddam’s man was appearing daily on local television telling the people of Iraq that they were winning the war. My personal view is that this disease is getting out of control'."

(Note: Dr Lovell is former president of the Australian Equine Veterinary Association and a director of the Australian Veterinary Association.)

A batch of 4800 doses of vaccine destined for the northern state of Queensland was compromised when the temperature sensor indicated that it had become exposed to below-minimum temperatures, which is a problem with transporting live vaccine.

More from the Courier Mail:

"Dr Lovell said he did not believe there were only 628 infected properties in Queensland. He said he had spoken to many property owners with infected horses who had not been officially confirmed by the DPI.

'They tell me that probably only one in every four properties is being recorded. That would suggest that we could have over 2500 infected properties,' he said.

(State) Premier Anna Bligh has written to (Australian Prime Minister) John Howard seeking 10,000 vaccines for the horse-breeding industry and another 4000 doses for the non-racing industry. Ms Bligh said the sector was 'at serious risk of widespread infection and economic collapse'."

Another grumble coming from Australia is that racehorse stables are receiving preferential treatment for vaccine and quarantine over pleasure horses, many of whom are competition horses.

In New South Wales, a government press release states: to date there are more than 32,000 horses infected on more than 3700 properties in NSW. NSW Department of Primary Industries initiated the first round in its buffer vaccination program (this) weekend."

Buffer zones, classified by color, have been identified around infected areas; preventive vaccination will be concentrated in these areas to prevent the spread of the disease to so-called "clean" green zones.

Early this morning, two horses tested positive to EI in one of NSW's green zones. That should change the map.

The "World" of Equine Infectious Diseases: Australian Quarantine Station Hit by Equine Influenza

Australian broodmares may be left waiting at the breeding shed this year. The breeding season in the Southern Hemisphere launches next week and many of the world's premier "shuttle" stallions will be kept in extended isolation at a quarantine station after an outbreak of equine flu.
The outbreak was reported today by the Australian racing news agency, Racenet.

A shuttle stallion is one that serves mares in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres; these stallions are breeding mares during the January-March season in the North and September to November in the South.

Thoroughbred racing and breeding is set up for foals to be born at a certain time of the year, as they all age one year on January 1 in the Northern Hemisphere, and July 1 in the Southern Hemisphere. Earlier foals would be larger foals at the time of yearling sales or more mature when they are ready to race, so breeders are always trying to get their mares bred as early as possible. A significant effort is also made to breed the mare back on the "foaling heat" instead of waiting for her to cycle normally.

Racenet is reporting that the stallions, many of whom are already booked for Australia's top mares, will be required to stay at the quarantine farm for another 30 days. Every time a new horse at the farm comes down with the flu, the release date is extended another 30 days.

Among the horses detained is the American champion Bernardini, winner of 2006 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, who is in his first year of breeding service.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the quarantine affects two groups of recently-landed Thoroughbreds, totalling about 80 top stallions from leading international stud farms.