Equine Influenza Outbreaks
of 2007 & 1872
A Lesson from History on Why We Vaccinate
Our brother and sister equestrians in Australia suffered a huge outbreak of Equine Influenza in 2007. Equine Influenza has been around a long time, and is one of the many diseases we routinely vaccinate against. It is an acute, highly contagious respiratory disease, that can manifest as a hardly noticeable infection or a very severe illness, while rarely fatal (except in the very young or otherwise febrile or sick horses) it can be debilitating in severe cases, and relapses can occur.
The susceptibility of a horse population to this disease is affected first of all by previous immunity (vaccinations and exposure), and the particular strain of the flu. New mutant variations can appear and affect horse communities that have full immunity to the common strains, at any time. In America we vaccinate for Eastern, Western and Venezuelan strains of Equine Influenza.
Up until 2007 Equine Influenza was found in most countries with the exception of Australia and New Zealand. Which is one reason this epidemic caused so much damage down under- their equine populations being more isolated from the rest of us, did not possess enough immunity, and the flu spread quickly and made their horses very ill.
Influenza is transmitted from respiratory secretions carried in the air, in water, on feed, on bedding etc- so crowded stables, horse shows, transportaton or other circumstances that place horses in close proximity to the infected equines can cause a rapid advance of the disease. They now believe the 2007 infection was introduced to Australia via a few race horses that arrived from Japan.
The Aussie's did what they needed to do to contain the disease, that is, strict quarantine, restriction of all movement of horses in and out of the country and affected areas. And they have weathered the storm, but with much loss.
At the time the outbreak was beginning in Australia, a research project was being completed by the Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation, on a forgotten Equine Influenza outbreak in the US, an epidemic that literally paralyzed America. Because horses were not vaccinated back in the 1800's, the influenza epidemic was severe. It resulted in an almost complete cessation of all business activity, it crippled transportation, and it sped from one end of the US to the other in just months- effecting 90% of the equine population. Never heard of it? Me either.
One reason you haven't heard of it is that it happened in 1872 and no one remembered it, however, once it was rediscovered and reported, our main stream equine magazines would not publish the articles. A fully researched and documented article (by the Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation) of this amazing equine event was offered to the American equine magazines and they refused to publish it. It was certainly relevant, as at that same time the outbreak was devastating Australia, and here was a report on how the USA suffered in a similar outbreak. We will get back to this publishing curiosity in a minute.
If you ever needed a reason to vaccinate your horses, take this as a graphic illustration of how quickly and completely disease spreads through a unvaccinated equine population. The disease broke out north of Toronto,Canada in September of 1872 and it spread down the eastern seaboard all the way to Cuba, and down the mid section of the US from Detroit, then it raced west until it reached Northern California and Arizonia by March of 1873. To fully understand the wreakage this event caused you need to recall that in that era everything relied on horsepower. Public transportation was pulled by horse, ships were tugged through canals by horse, coal mining was done with mules, doctors made their rounds by horse, goods went to market by horse and all the urban areas had huge stables for their supply needs.
When the horses came down with this influenza in 1872 they had no previous immunity so they became very ill, and many died. Everything stopped- overnight the residents of the cities became completely pedestrian, there were no healthy horses to do the work. People actually had to put on the harnesses and pull the wagons and fire trucks themselves. America was brought to its knees.
In Boston, which just happens to be my home town, most of downtown (776 buildings) burnt to the ground because none of the horses were well enough to pull the fire wagons.
As the influenza moved into the west, the Indian Wars were slowed almost to a stop as both the Cavalry and the Apaches they were fighting, found themselves unhorsed, and they were forced to continue combat on foot.
This is the biggest horse related event that America ever experienced, and it is not part of the common American equine knowledge. Would you like to learn more about this event? You may read all about this event and in much more detail, including the 1874 US government report of the epidemic on
this link.
Now back to the curious fact that our main stream equine magazines are reluctant to publish very timely and relevant articles. I feel we may not be fully conscious of how we are being manipulated by the great marketing machine that now runs our world. Ever wonder why the many equine magazines in this country publish variations of the same articles season in and season out? The motive becomes obvious when you begin to notice exactly what those articles are about: new barns, trailers, saddles, gear, trucks, tractors etc. These articles are designed to sell us something, rather than serve our educational needs. New discoveries or interesting equine history most often will go unreported, while which saddle is best, or the newest riding gear, or the best tractor, trailer, truck or barn is covered over and over. And this is the explanation of why you never have heard of the great American Epizootic, even though it was one of the largest equine events that occured in this country.
We thank the Long Riders Guild for the use of their data and illustrations.
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