Mounted search and rescue

[una.smith@att.net]

Paul in OZ wrote:
> a few of my mounted search team have
> refused to attend callouts with horses due to the chance of EI, so right now
> we are pretty well buggered. This comes at a bad time since we are already
> struggling to keep numbers up tot keep the team alive.

Thanks for the status report, Paul.  I am sorry for this.  I hope your team
weathers the storm.  As equine influenza (EI), just like its close relative 
the
human flu virus, is extremely easy to transmit on you hands and clothes, your 
team members may want to learn and practice some basic sanitation methods for
controlling infectious diseases.  Eg, changing clothes and washing hands after
contact with any "outside" horses or those horses' living areas, gear, and
waste.  So for example, any response to a trailer accident involving horses 
may merit basic biosecurity steps.  Also consider that EI can be conveyed by
mechanical means, including on the feet of birds, flies, and other visitors
to horse living areas.

Here is some to-the-point information on controlling avian influenza in a farm
setting:  http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-PO_AI.html

Good information about influenza viruses in general:  
http://www.biosecuritycenter.org/article/influenza

Hope this helps,

  Una