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States stand on front foot to fight diseases
10 Sep 2003
Since Exercise Minotaur took place in 2002, Australia's capacity to deal with foot and mouth and other serious animal diseases has been boosted substantially. Exercise Minotaur was a five-day test last September of the nation's response to a "virtual" outbreak of FMD. Changes initiated after this test are:
* creation of rapid response teams, which would move quickly in the event of an outbreak. About 40 people are being trained;
* diagnostic capacity is being upgraded through a $1.5 million program;
* a new vaccine bank. Nine of the main strains of FMD will be produced exclusively for use by Australia as part of future control strategies. A contract with an international company to develop and produce half a million vaccines over the next six months is about to be signed;
* new cost-sharing provisions. The ceiling for existing cost-sharing arrangements between governments and industry will be doubled, from 1 per cent to 2 per cent of an industry's production value
* new computer systems will collate state information in a Canberra database; Centrelink and other agencies will handle calls during a disease emergency;
* improved epidemiology systems will enhance information on the timing and location of disease outbreaks and determine the best local response.
Weekly Times, 10/9/03, page 9.
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