Animals Get the Flu, Too

Influenza Danger to Livestock

"Australia's prior freedom from influenza made the recent incursion especially devastating, but our own industry in the United States also suffers," said James Maclachlan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

A primary problem for industry, whose value is placed at $100 billion and includes racing, showing and recreational use of horses, according to Maclachlan, is that so-called shuttle stallions -- breeding males who go between the United States and Australia and New Zealand at the varying mating seasons -- are kept out over fears of infection.

A primary problem is that so-called shuttle stallions -- breeding males who go between the United States and Australia and New Zealand at the varying mating seasons -- are kept out because of fears of infection.

The economic impact is felt in the horse racing industry, as equine flu forces the cancellation of races.

The outbreak in Australia had both its own populace and that of nearby New Zealand worried.

After an investigation in New Zealand in April that revealed test results were contaminated and incorrectly showed that equine influenza had reached the island nation's shores, the New Zealand Herald wrote, "The test results were crucial because an equine influenza outbreak would put at risk New Zealand's place as the only significant horse-racing nation free of equine flu."

Bark of Some Flus Worse Than Bite

Equine influenza may have reached even further a few years back, when it is believed to have spawned canine influenza. The first documented cases of dog flu, according to the medical association, occurred in racing greyhounds in Florida in January of 2004.

But fears of widespread infection to family pets were never realized.

"When that outbreak went out into the general population ... actually it was very rare for us to see dogs get very ill with influenza," said Sarah Sheafor, medical director of SouthPaws Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Center in Fairfax, Va.

While her clinic treats a number of dogs with cancer, Sheafor notes that even the canines with weakened immune systems didn't come down with the virus.

"Everyone was worried just because it was a new influenza and we had never really seen influenza in dogs before," she said. "Since that summer, I would have to say we've seen fewer than three or four where we even worried about it."