KEY POINTS:
Equine authorities in this country are starting to breathe a sigh of relief as Australia battles to contain an equine influenza (EI) outbreak.
Veterinary staff have taken samples from horses at properties that have hosted horses from Australia in recent days but no obvious signs of the virus have been discovered.
John O'Flaherty, from the Equine Health Association's management committee, said yesterday the danger period appeared to have passed in New Zealand.
"I would have to say, every day that passes is like a big sigh of relief because it should have shown its head already."
On Saturday, New Zealand banned horse imports from Australia and border control procedures relating to people who have been in contact with horses in Australia were tightened.
Six stallions due to spend the spring breeding season here are stranded in Australia, while some New Zealand broodmares are also there, waiting to be served by Australian sires.
Racing has been cancelled in New South Wales and Queensland this weekend but will resume in Victoria.
Dr O'Flaherty said he believed the best way for New Zealand to deal with the issue was to wait it out and maintain strict biosecurity measures.
While EI vaccines are registered here and held by Biosecurity New Zealand ready for use in an outbreak, using them would be a last resort.
Dr O'Flaherty said they did not provide guaranteed protection, would be costly to systematically administer and it was difficult to find the right ones to combat different strains of the virus. He said the population of thoroughbreds in England was vaccinated heavily, but it didn't always prevent EI outbreaks among vaccinated horses there.
He disagreed with a school of thought that Australia was likely to lose the race to contain the virus, therefore New Zealand should implement a vaccine programme over the next six weeks and open the borders.
"For all the work we've done I think that's irresponsible and a very short-term approach."
He said New Zealand's biosecurity measures were tight and prevention at the border should be the main aim at the moment.
"It has served us really well for 40 years, so why should we just throw the can in now. When Australia gets to the point where they can say 'we've got X number of properties and there are no more', then we can start to say 'that's great, now let's wait for them to get through it'.
"Because if they can keep all those horses from moving for a couple of months we'll be right."
EHA and Biosecurity New Zealand are meeting daily to assess the situation.
- NZPA
