Minutes of the EI Core Group Meeting held on 15-11-08 in Pune. (Part One)

 

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CORE GROUP CONSTITUTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE EQUINE INFLUENZA HELD AT 11.30 A.M.  ON SATURDAY, 15^TH NOVEMBER 2008, IN THE VICTORIA ROOM, TURF CLUB HOUSE, PUNE:

 

Present:-

 

Mr Shivlal Daga                     –          Chairman, Co-ordination Committee, TAI

Diwan Arun Nanda                –          representative of WIRHOA Ltd

Mr NHS Mani                       -           Deputy Secretary, RWITC Ltd

Dr D Swaminathan                 -           Senior Veterinary Officer, RWITC Ltd

Mr. Pesi Shroff                       -           representative of WITA Ltd

Dr Anil Kumar                        -           representative of WITA Ltd

           

Also present:-

 

            Mr Adil Dajee                                     Mr Robert D'Mellow

            Ms Arti Doctor                                   Mr Jayantilal K Gor

            Mr Altaf Hussain                                Mr M K Jadhav          

            Mr Sangramsingh N Joshi                   Mr Vijay Kasbekar

            Mr C D Katrak                                    Mr Rehanullah Khan  

            Mr Narendra Lagad                            Mrs Nina M Lalvani

            Mr Sandeep Mangalorkar                   Mr Nana Raghunath                          

Mr Imtiaz A Sait                                 Mr Nosher Cama

            Mr Asad Siddiqui                               Mr Bharat Singh

            Mr Himmat Singh                               Mr Subhag Singh

            Mr Zadmal Singh                                Mr S K Sunderji

            Mr Vinayak                                         Mr K Ganapathy

           

 

At the outset, Mr Arun Nanda welcomed the Trainers to the meeting.

 

Mr Nanda stated that the Core Group has requested Mr Shivlal Daga to address the trainers in his capacity as Chairman, Co-ordination Committee, Turf Authorities of India and share his knowledge and expertise with the trainers in connection with the Equine Influenza. Mr Nanda also stated that Mr Daga is also on the Board of the National Research Center on Equines, Hissar.

 

Mr Nanda thereafter narrated the background of the matter. He stated that as suggested by the owners at the meeting which the owners and trainers had with the Committee of the Club on 3^rd November 2008, the Committee of the Club decided to constitute a Core Group in connection with the Equine Influenza, comprising of two members from the Club, WIRHOA Ltd and WITA Ltd. Whilst the Committee of the Club had nominated Capt Jamshed Appoo and Mr Zavaray S Poonawalla to serve on the Core Group, the WIRHOA Ltd nominated Mr Geoffrey Nagpal and himself (Mr Nanda) and WITA Ltd nominated Mr Pesi Shroff and Dr Anil Kumar. He also stated that the WIRHOA Ltd had requested for induction of two additional representatives viz. Mr Suresh Advani and Mr Shiven Surendranath in the Core Group which request was before the Committee of the Club for its consideration. He also stated that subsequently, Capt Jamshed Appoo has resigned from the Core Group which resignation was before the Committee of the Club for its consideration.

 

 

Mr Nanda stated that since Mr Zavaray S Poonawalla and Mr Geoffrey Nagpal were  out of the country they could not attend this meeting and they were given leave of absence from the meeting. Mr Nanda also stated that Mr Gautam Lala who was also to attend this meeting, as a representative of WIRHOA Ltd, in the absence of Mr Geoffrey Nagpal, was unable to do so.

 

Mr Nanda further stated that the Core Group met in Mumbai on 11^th November 2008 and Mr Daga was invited to attend the said meeting. The Core Group at the said meeting considered the matter in great detail and went through all the information and data available. The Core Group also heard Mr Daga in detail wherein Mr Daga expressed his opinion based on papers he has studied and advice he has received. The Core Group also heard Dr Swaminathan in detail at the said meeting.

 

Mr Nanda went on to say that the Core Group having deliberated upon in great detail decided to give an advisory note to the trainers. This advisory note was prepared on the basis of the guidelines for control of Equine Influenza issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries dated 31^st October 2008 and also the input from the Core Group including the opinion of Mr Daga, Dr Swaminathan and Mr Pesi Shroff as also the information received from the other sources. This advisory note was circulated to all the trainers this morning.

 

Mr Nanda further stated that Dr Swaminathan has given clinical symptoms data for the period 3^rd November 2008 to 15^th November 2008 wherein the figures of fever cases, cough and nasal discharge were rapidly declining. He stated that as per the data prepared by Dr Swaminathan based on the information provided to him by the trainers, there were 124 horses  who were unaffected by the Equine Influenza (Annexure 'A').

 

Before going into the matter further, Mr Nanda requested Mr Daga to address the Trainers.

 

At the outset, Mr Daga thanked the Core Group for inviting him to address the trainers in this regard. He stated that he was not an expert and that he was only an expert layman. He stated that he had studied a lot of documents and had tried to gather a lot of information and knowledge by interacting with people who had knowledge in this regard. He further stated that he happens to be a Member of the scientific body i.e. the National Research Centre on Equines, Hissar. He went on to add that he would give his opinion in a lay man's terms.

 

Mr Daga stated that there appears to be a misconception that the Equine Influenza was going on for months and no action was taken in this regard. Equine Influenza cannot and was not a disease which was selective. Whatever may have been the disease/cause for fever cases reported at Race Course and Studs earlier than third week of October 2008 it certainly was not Equine Influenza because there was no cough, and / or nasal discharge and the cases were sporadic. If it was Equine Influenza then all horses would have got it like at present and not selective cases spread over months. Further most of those horses also had got sick again now. He added that any vaccination would have helped only 60% to 70% horses as even some of the vaccinated horses were affected by the Equine Influenza and thus vaccination would have not prevented the epidemic.

 

Mr Daga added that the NRCE has isolated Equine Influenza virus Sub-type-2 from affected equines at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir and the samples received from the other states were under process. He also mentioned that the immunogenicity of new strain was yet to be studied. The immunogenicity of strains may vary if a variant strain affects the equines in new outbreak. It was expected that Subtype-2 vaccine which was being prepared by NRCE on an experimental basis may give protection to healthy and uninfected horses against this infection in future. Any subtype-2 vaccine available in market may also be helpful.

 

Mr Daga went on to say that whilst NRCE was developing a vaccine, they would not manufacture the same and they would only give the technical knowhow for preparation of the vaccine.

 

Addressing the question as to whether any forewarning would have helped, Mr Daga stated that in Europe and USA all the horses are mandatorily vaccinated periodically and yet Equine Influenza is endemic in these countries. He stated that there is no protocol which would give 100% help in future. He added that last time when Influenza occurred there were over 80000 equidae deaths. He stated that in the present outbreak many States were hiding the facts.

 

Mr Daga stated that as per his information some of the army mules which went to Vaishnodevi Temple with VVIPs were affected by Equine Influenza and this spread to Army Studs, 61 Cavalry and Nicholson Range and so on. It is probable that this disease has come to Pune with the Marwari horses that came for the Youth Games as the Rajasthani syces may have had contact with their brethren working at Pune. However, this is only a surmise. He stated that the movement of army horses including polo horses was totally banned. According to his information, 99% of the disease was spread by people rather than any other way. It can spread through syces, veterinarians, trainers and so on who fail to carry out proper disinfection. He stated that equipment was also carrier of the virus.

 

Mr Daga further stated that looking at the present scenario, he personally believes that the horses at the Pune Race Course have, by now, got over the problem.

 

Mr Daga stated that once six to eight weeks from the first sign of Equine Flu is over the affected horses would not be shedders of the virus so as to contaminate non-affected horses.

 

Mr Daga further added that the position at various stud farms was officially not known though he has personal knowledge about many in and around Pune. He stated that NRCE had not yet given the details of the virus involved in the outbreak of Equine Influenza at RWITC Ltd. He however reiterated that Subtype-2 virus was involved in the outbreak at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir and therefore it could be safely presumed that the same virus would have caused the outbreak in RWITC Ltd as well as it would be farfetched that another type had come to Pune.

 

Mr Daga stated that the Core Group had met about four days ago and taken into consideration the input from Dr Swaminathan and Mr Pesi Shroff as well and formulated an advisory to the trainers incorporating therein the guidelines given by the Ministry of Agriculture as also taken details from various publications and people who were familiar with the manner in which the situation in Australia was dealt with. The Core Group also decided to explore the possibilities of having vehicles dips in the stable area at the Mumbai and Pune Race Courses. Mr Daga stated that he would take up the matter regarding making dips at Mumbai and Pune at the Committee Meeting to be held on 17^th November 2008. Mr Daga however stated that he and Dr Swaminathan had observed that the horses were reluctant to walk through the dip which was created in the isolation stables at Mumbai Race Course and they always tend to jump over it. Secondly, there may be lack of space in Pune for making dips. He added that the purpose of creating dips was that all vehicles and horses should pass through the dips in order to reduce the chances of infection of any sort.

 

Mr Daga further stated that the Core Group has also decided that the proposal for sanitation and disinfection suggested by Bio-Corp Ltd as contained in the advisory should be implemented forthwith. He stated that Mr Pesi Shroff, Mr. Vinayak and Mr. Subhag Singh have already been disinfecting their stables and they have found no ill effect on horses as a result of such a disinfection. Mr Daga stated that the stable area at the Mumbai Race Course would also be disinfected. He advised the trainers that all of them should agree and co-operate for disinfection of their stable whereby possible secondary bacterial infection could be prevented to an extent as such disinfection would reduce the bacteria load in the stable area.