La Low Goal
Equine Influenza
Crisis
Equine Influenza Crisis?
Horse racing is in shutdown ,
many yards are closing their doors to protect themselves from the risk, and polo? We’ve got a brief and indescript email from the HPA telling us to be careful. Meanwhile one of the biggest tournaments of the year continues to take place, the SUPA university nationals, seeing hire horses from all over the country make their way to Rugby Polo Club, and multiple tournaments continue to take place down south. Should polo be doing more to protect itself from the equine influenza outbreak? And if so, how? Equine influenza is increadably contagious, spreading through the air. An infected horse is able to pass on the virus at a distance of 2 kilometres if it were to cough, and a horse can be infectious for up to a week before it shows symptoms such as a high temperature, runny noise or constant coughing. Although the virus rarely causes major damage, and isn’t actually treated, just left to run its cause, it does damage the respiratory system, which can lead to serious heart problems if the horse isn’t left on rest for a number of weeks following the infection. Just in the last couple of days a number of cases, some from unrelated yards, from all over the country have been reported, and as a result all horse racing in the U.K. has been suspended until at least Wednesday, likely longer as further cases spring up. Currently 9 cases have been confirmed, and in an effort to avoid the virus spreading, many yards have closed their gates. One of the biggest collection of horse hirers in the country however continues regardless, the uni nationals. Now of course there is nothing saying any of these
horses might be infected, however there is always a possibility, especially when the horses are coming from all over the UK. It is estimated that nationally only 30% of all horses are vaccinated against the virus, far below the required 70% to iradicate the disease. Even if you yourself have your ponies vaccinated, they can still contract the disease as the virus adapts and changes into different strands over time. This means that everyone is at risk, regardless of their vaccination situation. This could mean that if a single horse is infected, perhaps not even showing symptoms yet, it could cause massive damage, rendering many people out of polo for weeks on end. So should we place a ban on competitions, much like horse racing? In my opinion it would be mad to halt the uni nationals half way through proceedings. The damage, if it was there, would have already been done. But in the future, the close future, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to temporarily halt tournaments. Chukkas could still take place, as long as all the ponies were from the same club, and already in contact with each other. Actual advice from the HPA (which is following the BEF guidelines) has been to ensure you’re horse is vaccinated, and to get the latest booster if your horse was vaccinated less than 6 months ago. However Equine Influenza can be passed on indirectly by vets, grooms and handlers, as the virus can travel on their bodies for up to 30 hours even though the vet cannot catch the disease. Vets can of course change clothes and be disinfected to avoid this issue, but the large number of horses that could need treating could make this impractical and people may become complacement. Ironically then, it seems that the vaccine could end up amplifying the spread of the epidemic. Perhaps wiser advice, would be to avoid contact with other horses and horse handlers where possible to minimise the risk for a short period. Equine influenza, much like flu in humans, generally only lasts around a week before the immune system fights off the virus, so if isolation was achieved, the crisis would pass relatively quickly. But would the HPA really be able to stop polo? The HPA are after all, only one governing body, others do exist, for example SUPA. Really the HPA would have no authority to stop non HPA clubs from playing chukkas or SUPA playing their tournaments. Really it shouldn’t be up to the HPA or any governing bodies for that matter. People just need to use their common sense, vaccinate where needed and avoid contact with other high risk horses. Follow the situation and ensure your bio security is in place efficiently, more information can b found at the British Equine Federation website at https://bef.co.uk/News-Detail.aspx?news=further-equineflu-update
