About

About Vet Intel Equine

Vet Intel Equine is a non-commercial web-based reporting system dedicated to collating and sharing real-time information on the health of the New Zealand horse population. The project is led by the New Zealand equine industry. We consider Vet Intel Equine a New Zealand equine community asset with governance via the Equine Veterinary Association (EVA) and the New Zealand Equine Health Association (NZEHA) and to be used to enhance the health and welfare of New Zealand equines.

All NZ practices are invited to contribute data from their equine caseload. Shared data will be displayed anonymised on a postcode level and not be identifiable to owners or veterinarians. Veterinary practices submitting data can view and explore their own data in detail and compare it to national benchmarks. Proof of concept for the system has been provided through an NZEHA co-funded pilot study^[1].

The Vet Intel Equine system is hosted on NZEHA owned servers and managed by our contracted partner Epi-interactive. There are measures in place to maintain a high level of security for the system and data to prevent unauthorised access. The use of Vet Intel Equine is in accordance with the Privacy Act 1993 and the objectives stated in this document.

Requests for data from the system will go to the Vet Intel Equine governance committee. The Vet Intel Equine governance committee comprises of two members of NZVA EVA and two equine sector representatives and is chaired by the Chair of the NZEHA. Any user granted access into the system must sign a Vet Intel Equine confidentiality agreement.

Objectives of Vet Intel Equine include:

1. Quantifying baseline disease incidence of the New Zealand horse population
2. Identifying any significant change in the level of disease or welfare
3. Early detection of exotic disease
4. Understanding the pattern of expression of disease syndromes
5. Supporting disease freedom statements
6. Supporting future research
7. Supporting disease responses
8. Identifying areas of concern that would benefit from investment and further research

Governance of Vet Intel

Support

We would like to thank the following organisations for supporting Vet Intel Equine

Reference

[1]. Muellner P, Muellner U, Gates M, Pearce T, Ahlstrom C, O'Neill D, Brodbelt D and Cave NJ. Evidence in practice - a pilot study leveraging companion animal and equine health data from primary care veterinary clinics in New Zealand. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 3:116 doi: 10.3389/fvets.2016.00116, 2016.

Contact us

If you have any questions please contact Dr Trish Pearce, Executive Advisor to NZEHA, pearce.patricia@gmail.com or on 027 506 2091

If you would like more information on the technical set-up of Vet Intel Equine, please contact Dr Uli Muellner uli@epi-interactive.com or on 04 388 7884

Research and publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Muellner P, Muellner U, Gates M, Pearce T, Ahlstrom C, O'Neill D, Brodbelt D and Cave NJ. Evidence in practice - a pilot study leveraging companion animal and equine health data from primary care veterinary clinics in New Zealand. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 3:116 doi: 10.3389/fvets.2016.00116, 2016.

Contributions to conferences

Pearce T, Muellner P, Muellner U, Gates C. Establishing opportunistic primary care data surveillance for equines in New Zealand. Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium of Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (ISVEE), Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 2018.

Muellner P, Gates C, Muellner U, Pearce P. VetIntel: Creating a win-win scenario between patient care, evidence-based medicine and surveillance. Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium of Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (ISVEE), Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 2018.

Pearce T, Muellner P, Gates C, Muellner U. Equine primary care data surveillance in New Zealand - a dream come reality? New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand, June 2018.

Muellner P, Pearce T, Gates C, Muellner U. Count your horses - towards real-time surveillance of equine health in New Zealand. Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS) Science Week, Surfer's Paradise, Australia, 2017.

Pearce T, Muellner P, Gates MC, Ahlstrom C, Muellner U. Horse power: establishing equine primary-care data surveillance in New Zealand. International Conference for Animal Health Surveillance (ICAHS 3), Rotorua, New Zealand, April 2017.

Muellner P, Gates C, Muellner U, Pearce T, Ahlstrom C, Cave N. It's the interface, stupid: engaging veterinarians to provide data for practice data-based surveillance in equines and companion animals. Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists (ANZCVS) Science Week, Surfer's Paradise, Australia, 2016.

Muellner P, Gates C, Pearce T. A New Zealand equine veterinary practice-based surveillance system - our vision. Annual Conference of the New Zealand Equine Veterinary Association (NZEVA), Taupo, New Zealand, 2015.