Better Foot and Mouth Test Will Boost Defense
A NEW test for foot-and-mouth disease would allow Australia to vaccinate its livestock and improve its preparedness, according to international experts. World FMD specialists met this week in Geelong to devise a test for the disease, which has ravaged herds in the United Kingdom and South-East Asia. The UN-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency is collaborating with CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory in developing a new diagnostic method.
John Crowther from the Animal Production and Health Division of the Vienna-based IAEA said the three commercial test kits now available were limited in their usefulness because they did not differentiate between vaccinated and infected animals.
The three serum tests could not distinguish between the antibody contained in the vaccine and the antibody produced by the virus. "If there is an outbreak you are going to want to screen for the disease, and if Australia did decide to vaccinate, it is important to have a test to show that after vaccination the cattle are disease free," Dr Crowther said.
He said the scientists, from 15 countries, would set criteria for a test that could be used around the world to establish a country's status as free from FMD.
This would also help countries recovering after an outbreak to prove their exports were clean. "We are wanting to develop a test which would allow you to do lots of samples fairly quickly and cheaply," he said.
CSIRO's Harvey Westbury said a new test could be developed within a year which would allow Australia to vaccinate without endangering its FMD-free status.
"Such a test would mean it was possible to control an outbreak and use vaccines rather than opting for mass slaughter of animals, as happened in the United Kingdom," Dr Westbury said.
He said an outbreak in Australia, which had been FMD-free since 1872, could cost the economy more than $28 billion in its first year.
"The losses in terms of exports, jobs and compensation to farmers would be devastating," he said.
