P.PSH.0779-Improved surveillance, preparedness and return to trade for emergency animal disease incursions using foot-and-mouth disease as a model: The FMD Ready Project

Summary

The future of biosecurity, from an understanding of the risks posed by diseases and pests, to strong surveillance and implementation of effective systems control, involves questions touching multiple disciplines of natural and social sciences and strong partnerships with stakeholders.

Objectives

The FMD Ready Project aimed to enhance Australia’s preparedness and facilitate a rapid return to trade in the event of an emergency animal disease (EAD) outbreak through the development of generic processes and support tools, using FMD as a model, through:

• Assurance that Australia continues to have a fit-for-purpose FMD vaccine bank effective against the highest risk FMD viral strains for Australia and rapid diagnostic tests suitable for testing strains pre-, post- and during an outbreak.
• A new model for producer-led (EAD) surveillance systems for consideration by the jurisdictions.
• An integrated EAD outbreak management decision support system to allow response scenarios to be rapidly tested and costed before outbreaks.
• Meteorological, pathway and next generation sequencing based tools to rapidly characterise and map outbreak pathogen spread and provide animal biosecurity response intelligence.

Key findings

The FMD ready project achieved its broad goals relating to Australia’s emergency animal disease preparedness. Some examples include:

• Contributing to decision-making on which antigens should be included in Australia’s FMD bank.
• Improving the availability, accuracy and efficiency of diagnostic tests to ensure accurate diagnosis and surveillance in the case of an FMD incursion.
• Improved the participation of producers in biosecurity and surveillance networks.
• Increased interest in government agencies in working with livestock industry networks to improve biosecurity and surveillance outcomes.
• Development of biosecurity communication tools by producers for producers.
• Updating and expanding the Australia Animal Disease spread model (AADIS) as a decision support tool and integrating it with improved economic modelling tools to inform disease control strategies.
• Development of an application to incorporate big data into the real-time modelling of disease spread during an emergency animal disease outbreak.

Benefits to industry

As a result of this project, Australia is better prepared for an emergency animal disease incursion with pre-border knowledge of FMD threats, tools that can be used prior and during an outbreak and a better understanding of control options and their costs.

MLA action

MLA continues to invest in research into biosecurity and preparation for potential future emergency animal disease incursions. This includes investments into biosecurity capacity building and extension overseas and in Australia, future vaccines, invasive species and vector control, and traceability systems.

Future research

Researchers and stakeholders identified areas for future research for each of the four sub-projects conducted to further enhance Australia’s readiness for an emergency animal disease incursion:

• Rapid diagnosis and vaccination strategy preparedness.
• Farmer-led surveillance systems.
• Decision support tools for decision-making for outbreak management.
• Analytical tools to determine the path of farm-to-farm disease transmission.