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[RC] EI update - Maryanne GabbaniI spent about an hour yesterday afternoon chatting with neighbours, friends, vets and so on to see how things are going. The good news is that fatalities are very low, at least here in this area. As Dany Barbare told me, "Death in the case of influenza is almost 99% surely due to negligence and stupidity." If you are on top of things and catch it quick with supportive therapy, like IV fluids and such, the horses are not happy but they pull through. In the pyramids horses are coughing all over the place and no one is giving them rest so I expect fatalities there. We have a couple of "pyramids" type stables here as well and they don't see any reason to stop working. In fact one guy said to send him the clients that I'm turning away. Why don't I think that I will?Gossip (always interesting even when you don't know the people personally); Our equestrian federation president (FEI no less) informed on stable owner who runs a jump stable that this isn't EI. It can't possibly be. It's heat stroke....during one of our more reasonable summers...and if it's heat stroke why are the cases coming from Alexandria where he is based? Much cooler down there. Our one FEI vet informed a breeder that "the worst was over". Hmmm. I don't think so. If that is the case why is his phone not answering? Facts: Most of the responsible stables in this area have locked down and are clean. The hot spot down the road has owners waiting until they get the all clear to be able to move their horse anywhere but there. I had to call the stable owner (who incidentally was NOT there) to tell him to order his grooms to keep the horses INSIDE the stable walls and not walk them along the roadway to dry them off after bathing. How stupid can someone get? A vet friend of mine working at the EAO (the government stud at El Zahraa) went to work yesterday and found that overnight there were 80 horses sick and this morning the numbers have gone up. He got no sleep at all and they are trying to work with herbal remedies for the cough and such because medications for 500 horses is pretty much out of budget. I'm sending him our herbal mix. It certainly can't hurt and herbs are not nearly as expensive as meds. One of the best things herbally is eucalyptus and the EAO has huge trees all over the place. They are sending cultures to the university for testing and we all are hoping for the best. Our testing facilities are not the best, as I well know. I was taking Eleanor Kellon's nutrition class and sent samples of my forage to the Ministry of Agriculture for analysis....seemed like a good idea at the time. My results for my forage indicated that all my horses are dead of selenium poisoning and since I'm still having to feed them, there is problem somewhere. Now I have to find another place for the analysis since I wrote to the head of the testing unit and never even got an acknowledgment of the email, much less an answer. Think kind thoughts for the horses of Egypt. Maryanne -- Maryanne Stroud Gabbani msgabbani@xxxxxxxxx Egypt Face to Face www.alsorat.com Weblogs: Living In Egypt miloflamingo.blogspot.com Cairo/Giza Daily Photo cairogizadailyphoto.blogspot.com Turn Right At The Sarcophagus haramlik.blogspot.com Da Moose Is Loose (a blog for kids) mstroud.blogspot.com Photos of Egypt: http://www.flickr.com/photos/livinginegypt/
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