Report by ProMed: Hong Kong racing is in danger of being shut down if officials are unable to contain an outbreak of a highly contagious virus. The stable of trainer John Moore has been hardest hit, with 4 of his horses scratched from Tuesday's [20 Feb 2007] Chinese New Year meeting after displaying symptoms of the virus. Another 5 horses in his stable have also shown signs of the mystery virus along with 3 of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's lead ponies. All affected horses have been isolated. "My feeling is it could be from the lead ponies. Three of my horses which have it, One World, Able Prince and Tiber, have all been led down to the barriers by lead ponies in the past 14 days for races or trials," Moore told the South China Morning Post. "The Jockey Club has to be very serious about this, and nobody should think it will be okay and will go away. This could bring racing in Hong Kong to a standstill. I've briefed my staff, and we've disinfected everything there is to disinfect, but it can spread very quickly. I'm worried that, if it has spread to other horses, it could get worse by working them before they show signs."
The Jockey Club's chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges played down the threat to racing and said that while the club had to be vigilant, it was not looking at an epidemic. "The affected horses are being isolated in order to contain whatever it is, but stables all around the world have viruses from time to time, and it is not unusual," Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "On Wednesday [21 Feb 2007], we hope to have test results back to tell us what it is that we are dealing with. People are asking if this has any implication for the staging of the Olympic equestrian events next year [2008], and the answer is simply no." Chief steward Jamie Stier issued a release on Saturday [17 Feb 2007] afternoon to explain the withdrawal of Moore's 4 runners and said on Monday [19 Feb 2007] the situation had not worsened.
"The veterinary department was initially concerned after the ponies, and then a number of John Moore's horses showed symptoms last week, but the vets have put into place the appropriate procedures, including isolating known cases, and it does not appear to have spread," Stier said. "We are of course monitoring the entire horse population for any elevated temperatures and especially those horses due to race." In 1992, the Hong Kong Jockey Club was forced to postpone 7 race meetings after an outbreak of the Equine-2 influenza virus A (H3N8). The outbreak originated from imported horses, and close to 75 percent of Hong Kong's horse population became infected.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?id=10003&cat=dis&lang=eng
The Jockey Club's chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges played down the threat to racing and said that while the club had to be vigilant, it was not looking at an epidemic. "The affected horses are being isolated in order to contain whatever it is, but stables all around the world have viruses from time to time, and it is not unusual," Engelbrecht-Bresges said. "On Wednesday [21 Feb 2007], we hope to have test results back to tell us what it is that we are dealing with. People are asking if this has any implication for the staging of the Olympic equestrian events next year [2008], and the answer is simply no." Chief steward Jamie Stier issued a release on Saturday [17 Feb 2007] afternoon to explain the withdrawal of Moore's 4 runners and said on Monday [19 Feb 2007] the situation had not worsened.
"The veterinary department was initially concerned after the ponies, and then a number of John Moore's horses showed symptoms last week, but the vets have put into place the appropriate procedures, including isolating known cases, and it does not appear to have spread," Stier said. "We are of course monitoring the entire horse population for any elevated temperatures and especially those horses due to race." In 1992, the Hong Kong Jockey Club was forced to postpone 7 race meetings after an outbreak of the Equine-2 influenza virus A (H3N8). The outbreak originated from imported horses, and close to 75 percent of Hong Kong's horse population became infected.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?id=10003&cat=dis&lang=eng