Wild Horse Population Control Forum in Australia

by Fran Jurga | 21 September 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Australia is home to ten times as many wild horses as the United States. Australian "brumbies" are being studied by a unique unit at the University of Queensland that seeks to learn about the feet of these horses as well as their genetics, behavior, and feeding habits. A major presentation of the hooves of Australian wild horses will be presented in West Palm Beach, Florida at the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in November. Later that month, the university will host a conference on wild horse fertility control.

When the Bureau of Land Management of the United States Government set out to round up the wild horses of the Pryor Mountain Range in Wyming at the beginning of this month, they opened a floodgate of controversies. Everyone and anyone could pick their favorite issue related to wild horse management and comment loudly on the Internet. It was a Wild Web free-for-all without a moderator.

One of the subjects that came up was the treatment of mares to decrease or delay fertility and how this might affect behavior of individual horses and the stablity of small mare bands attached to a single stallion. The idea of "birth control" for wild horses is not new, but the widespread practice is, and many people hadn't heard about it.

Half a planet away, Australia is struggling with a massive overpopulation of wild horses. They would absolutely laugh at the numbers that the BLM cites: Australia is home to ten times the feral horse population of the United States. And it is growing exponentially each year.

To discuss the pros and cons of fertility intervention in the vast population, the Australian Brumby Alliance will host a conference at the University of Queensland on November 24, 2009. The conference will include participation by the RSPCA, Queensland Park and Wildlife Service, and scientists and veterinarians from the University of Queensland and its veterinary college.

Click on this link to download a flyer about the wild horse fertility conference: Fertility%20Control%20Seminar%20Flier.pdf

The University of Queensland's vet school is home to the Australian Brumby Research Unit, which is the only research laboratory known to be solely dedicated to the study of wild horses. The researchers are involved in tracking horses with GPS collars, studying their habits, genetics and diet, and particularly noting the distance covered by wild horses.

The Queensland researchers are involved in helping Aborigine groups re-connect with the wild horses in their regions and learn horsemanship skills.

Data on the wild horse hooves is being studied under the direction of famed laminitis researcher Dr. Chris Pollitt, of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, who hopes to glean insights on what the truly "normal" foot is and how a foot is influenced by its environment, exclusive of human intervention factors. To that end, wild horses are studied that live on different types of terrain and in different moisture zones. One recent study involve switching horses from wet to dry and dry to wet, and the scientists monitored the changes in their feet over the course of time.

Dr Pollitt will present a major report on the brumby hoof research and how it is applicable to domestic horse research and particularly laminitis research at the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida on November 6-8, 2009.

Australian Vet Killed by Hendra Virus After Trying to Save Infected Horses Lives

by Fran Jurga | 2 September 2009 | The Jurga Report

I hate to write to this story. I hate to have to tell you this. Again.

A young Australian veterinarian has died in a Queensland hospital after spending two weeks in a coma. He is the second veterinarian in as many years to die from the Hendra virus transmitted by a sick horse.

Alister Rodgers (inset photo, left) was treating horses infected with the highly contagious Hendra virus at a stud farm in Queensland, and in spite of treatment with anti-viral drugs when the diagnosis of the horse was made, became ill and spent two weeks in a coma. He died yesterday.

Along with Alister Rodgers, three exposed stud farm workers of varying ages were also treated with anti-viral medication. All four, and the stud farm owner, were kept under close observation in a hospital and later released except for Rodgers. Only he became ill.

According to the Equestrian Queensland branch of the Equestrian Federation of Australia, the stud farm will now be under quarantine for months. No horse movement can take place until the quarantine is lifted. Also, because of the threat of HeV to human health, minimal interaction is taking place with horses and only basic husbandry can be done.

"A supportive horse community is a strong horse community," says EQ in their appeal. They would know, after getting through the Equine Influenza outbreak in Australia last year; EQ hopes to raise money to help the farm meet its payrole and feed its horses.

The deadly Hendra Virus (HeV) has not been widely documented outside of Australia. It is carried by a specific type of fruit bat and, for some reason, reappears almost annually in horses in the Australian state of Queensland. It is named for a suburb of Brisbane, where it was first discovered and killed a horse trainer.

Click here for general information about how Hendra virus affects horses and humans.

Click here to read about last summer's outbreak of Hendra virus in Queensland.

Click here to read about the death almost exactly one year ago of Queensland vet Ben Cuneen who was also treating an infected horses when he contracted the virus. The veterinarians there really are at great risk.

I don't think this story is getting nearly enough publicity. This is a tragic loss of a young professional's life. This disease is like something out of a horror movie and I hope that the Australia medical and biotechnology experts will soon unravel its mystery and protect both horses and humans from future threats.

Australian Research Confirms Link Between Caterpillars and Equine Fetal Death

An Eastern Tent Caterpillar, typical of the eastern USA; this is the species linked to 2002's Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome (MRLS) problem on Kentucky horse farms.

Researchers from The University of Queensland have found hairy caterpillars are responsible for causing abortions in Australian mares. Dr. Judy Cawdell-Smith and Professor Wayne Bryden, from UQ's School of Animal Studies, found that mares exposed to caterpillars were likely to miscarry.

"This is an unusual form of abortion that was first reported in Australia in 2004 and is similar to a condition reported in Kentucky in 2002," Dr. Cawdell-Smith said. "Researchers in Kentucky identified Eastern Tent Caterpillars as the cause of the US equine condition, (which came to be known as) Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome."

Similar equine abortion cases were reported in Australia's Hunter Valley in New South Wales in 2004. The Hunter Valley is Australia's largest Thoroughbred breeding area.

"Studies conducted by veterinary epidemiologist, Professor Nigel Perkins, suggested the abortions were caused by caterpillars or poisonous plants," Professor Bryden said. "No poisonous plants were found on any of the stud farms where mares aborted. Caterpillars were identified as the cause of the US problem but the same caterpillars don't exist in Australia. However, other related caterpillars were found on the affected Australian stud farms.

"If you've ever seen a hairy caterpillar, it is unlikely that a horse would eat a whole one," he continued. "What's more likely is that the caterpillar's exoskeleton – which is much harder to see in the grass – is picked up by the horse while it is grazing. In our studies, both whole caterpillars and exoskeleton caused mares to abort."

The researchers believe ingestion of the caterpillar changes the permeability of the intestinal wall, allowing bacteria to pass into the horse's circulation and through the placenta.

"The subsequent infection caused by the bacteria in the fetus results in abortion," Dr. Cawdell-Smith said. "These bacteria are found in the intestine of mares and normally don't cause a problem. Interestingly, mares that abort have no ill effects or evidence of illness."

Thanks to the University of Queensland for this report.

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.