When we talk about disease and damage to our agricultural and livestock industries, Australia is a lucky country. We are free of many of the exotic diseases that can devastate livestock and for this we should be proud. Keeping our country and our horses free of potentially life-threatening illness is highly intensive and involves strict adherence to regulations and protocols designed to prevent viruses, bacteria, and parasites from entering our lands.
Whilst there have been times when diseases foreign to our lands have arrived at our doorsteps, the well-maintained quarantine facilities have prevented their escaping into our horse population – except for one very well publicised and very expensive event, the 2007 Equine Influenza saga.
“Australia is the only country that
has ever eradicated EI once it has
entered their horse population.”
Australia has very strict quarantine laws that need to be adhered to when importing a horse from overseas. There are some countries that we will not accept horses from because of the high risk they represent at bringing in an exotic disease. Other countries can export to Australia but only after their horses have been placed into quarantine before their departure from their country and again into quarantine on their arrival here. Even our horses that have travelled overseas for competitions must go through quarantine to be able to return home, sometimes requiring extended periods in a third country before being able to land in Australia.
There are many diseases that affect horses that we do not have in Australia, some spread by direct contact between horses, some by contact with infected equipment or personnel, and others via insect-borne transmission. The main virus of concern is Equine Influenza (EI) but other diseases (not all viral) we are keen to avoid include African Horse Sickness, Piroplasmosis, Contagious Equine Metritis, Dourine, Surra, Glanders, Viral Encephalitis and Rabies.
Equine Influenza is a respiratory virus that is highly contagious and spreads quickly between horses, causing a high temperature, deep hacking cough and nasal discharge. Fortunately, the mortality rate is low. The economic cost to the equine industry, however, is very high due to the profound number of horses that can be infected in a short time, forcing the closure of many horse events. Australia was impacted in 2007 when the EI virus escaped from the quarantine facilities in Sydney, into the grounds of Centennial Park and then exploded into the horse populations of New South Wales and Queensland. The rate of spread was phenomenal because the Australian horse population was naïve when it came to immunity and every horse was susceptible.
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
The economic consequences not only to the equine industry, but also the Australian economy, were enormous with horse events and horse travel stopped in its steps to control the outbreak. Simply by stopping racing in NSW, the racing participants, veterinarians, farriers, feed merchants, truck drivers, caterers, milliners, retail designers and a multitude of other businesses that feed off racing were heavily impacted. The response by the government to shut down the affected areas of the country, strategically vaccinate the horses at risk and eradicate the disease from our shores should be commended. Australia is the only country in the world that has ever eradicated EI once it has entered their horse population.
There is currently one main quarantine centre in Australia, the Mickleham Post Entry Quarantine facilities in Victoria, where horses arriving in Australia must enter through. The horse is required to stay for a minimum of two weeks, but this can increase depending on the country visited and the results of tests performed on the horses whilst in isolation. The Mickleham facilities have several small yards that allow horses to go outside for a couple of hours but no facilities for exercising apart from a walker. Owners are not allowed access into the quarantine facilities, and horses generally remain in the care of a groom that has been through an accreditation program. Most of these grooms will be affiliated with the freight companies that are responsible for importing the horse into Australia.
All personnel, including veterinarians, must go through an accreditation program to enable them to enter the facilities. All entrances are monitored by security guards to ensure no unauthorised people are allowed in.
Any horse coming to Australia, except from New Zealand and international racehorses, must go through quarantine before they are allowed to travel to any other location in Australia. New Zealand horses can bypass mandatory quarantine as they do not have any diseases that Australia doesn’t currently have.
RULES FOR RACEHORSES
International racehorses that arrive in Australia to compete over the Spring Carnival can go through separate quarantine facilities established for this purpose. There are currently two quarantine facilities that are operational for international racehorses to enter Australia and remain in full training to compete in major races, one in Werribee in Victoria and one in Canterbury, NSW. These are jointly operated by the racing clubs and allow racehorses to train whilst in quarantine as both compounds have access to training facilities that these horses can use every day.
The Werribee quarantine facility has three separate quarantine hubs, all attached to the Werribee racetrack to allow horses from multiple countries to train in preparation for racing in some of our largest races. Horses arriving at different times are generally allocated to different hubs as the quarantine period effectively starts after the last “new” horse enters the stabling. For example, if three horses are housed in a quarantine block and a fourth horse enters three days later, the first three horses will have to stay in quarantine for 14 days after the last horse arrives. Once the two-week quarantine period is over, these racehorses are allowed to travel outside the facilities to race.
New rules recently instigated by Racing Victoria mean the international horses must continue to train from these facilities until the weekend following the Melbourne Cup, even if they are to remain in the country indefinitely. This rule was established to minimise the risk of an international horse injuring themselves when in training.
“When a horse arrives at
Tullamarine airport, it
must remain isolated…“
The Werribee facility also serves as a pre-quarantine site for the international horses that will return overseas to their country or travel abroad to another country once they leave our shores. This then means that the outside of the quarantine facility is the “dirty side” and personnel entering the compound must change into clean clothes when going in there, so horses cannot become infected with a disease they can take into another country.
When a horse arrives at Tullamarine airport, it must remain isolated from any contact with our Australian horses. Horses are taken from the plane, inspected, then loaded onto a truck and escorted to the Mickleham quarantine station. Once there, they are examined by a private veterinarian in the presence of a government veterinarian, to ensure they are healthy and free of external parasites. Biological samples are taken for testing to ensure the horse is not infected with any unwanted disease or parasite that it could transmit to our horses. Biological samples can include blood samples or nasopharyngeal swabs, and these are submitted to the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) laboratory in Geelong, for testing. This was formerly called the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL).
“Horses are tested a minimum
of three times before they are
released from quarantine.”
REGULAR TESTING
Horses are tested a minimum of three times before they are released from quarantine – within 24 hours of arrival, 4-6 days after arrival and finally a couple of days before they have completed their 14-day quarantine period. The horses have their temperatures taken twice daily at a minimum of 8 hours apart and recorded. Any horse showing a temperature of 38.5°C or over is flagged as a potential risk and any horse that shows two consecutive temperatures of 38.5°C and above will trigger the authorities to instigate measures and further testing to ensure the temperature is not due to an exotic disease.
All personnel leaving the quarantine compound are required to go through a mandatory three-minute shower, including having their hair washed, and must change into clean clothes on the other side of the shower. Any clothing or footwear must remain on the “dirty side”, that is, in quarantine, including all underwear. Nothing that goes into the quarantine facilities is allowed to leave until the quarantine period is over. The exceptions to this are glasses and mobile phones that are thoroughly wiped clean before they are returned to the owner. The horse trucks that transport the horses to quarantine are also fully disinfected inside and out before they are allowed to leave the compound.
Horses that become ill whilst in quarantine must remain inside the compound and cannot be transported to a hospital due to the huge risk of bringing a disease out with them. The quarantine facilities have their own equine surgical theatre so that any horse that has a surgical colic or requires emergency surgery can have this performed in the compound without risking spread of disease.
All rubbish, manure and bedding are collected in special quarantine bins and incinerated during the 14 days, and on completion of the quarantine everything is removed from the stables and the barns fully disinfected. After 14 days minimum, if all biological samples are clear, the horses are then released from quarantine and can travel to their new homes around Australia.
“We need to protect our
horses and our environment.”
Importing a horse into Australia is an expensive exercise, however, the strict quarantine procedures every horse must go through to gain entry to this country should be thought of as money well spent. We need to protect our horses and our environment, as the consequences of not preventing new diseases from entering could be catastrophic to everyone. EQ
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