Until August 2007, Australia was one of only three countries internationally recognised to be free of equine influenza (EI). This report documents the diagnosis of the first cases of EI in Australian horses and summarises the investigations that took place over the next 5 days. During that time, a multifocal outbreak was identified across eastern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland. The use of an influenza type A pan-reactive real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction allowed rapid confirmation of suspect cases of EI.

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The reaction of 25 UK pea cultivars to pea seedbornc mosaic virus (PSbMV) was studied in lhe glasshouse. All cultivars proved to be susceptible. When leaf or tendril samples from inoculated plant' wereanalysed, it was found that most combining culuvars had a lower virus content as measured byA4fIj' values in ELISA. than garden and vining cultivars, and that garden and vining cultivars had a simHllr virus content. Seed transmission of PSbMV in 20 cultivars ranged from OOft-t in cvs Maro, Princess an.d" Progreta to 74% in cv. Vedette. There was no obvious relationship between virus content and lhe, efficiency of seed transmission in different cultivars. Wide variation in percentage seed transmission between individuals of single cultivars was observed; for seven cvs (ST 2-49o/Q) tested, all showed some plants escaping seed transmission altogether. Seedlings infected through the seed showed symptonu similar to those in the infected parent plants. Virus particles were readily detectable by immunosorben electron microscopy in infected seedlings, and in elongated infected embryonic shoots produced 3 dayr, after seed germination, by ELISA. An ELISA lest of seed samples from cv. Waverex showed that virutw as as readily detected 3 days after germination as after growth to symptomatic seedlings (4 weeks), an4:p robably provides the most sensitive. accurate and time-saving assay for seed transmission of PSbM,V",

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