PERTH airport is the beat for two detector dogs tasked to protect and keep Western Australia's agricultural industry free from biosecurity threats.
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And the importance of their role increased last week, after foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was officially confirmed in holiday hotspot Bali.
It has been more than 100 years since the disease - which affects cattle, sheep, goats and pigs - was detected in Australia.
Livestock producers are now waiting on a ticking time bomb.
As of Tuesday, official Indonesian government data reported a total of 525 positive cases on the island - up from 63 cases seven days prior when livestock restrictions had also been implemented.
Those were in addition to 342,482 cases - up from more than 285,000 - detected across the Indonesian archipelago.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- If you work with cattle, sheep, goats or pigs look out for blisters in and around the mouth, drooling and limping animals.
- Urgently report any unusual signs - consistent with FMD - to a local veterinarian or the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888.
- Review your onfarm biosecurity plan.
- Adhere to all traceability obligations, including that all documentation is correctly completed.
- Remember early detection and reporting is the best chance of containment and eradication.
According to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) the chances of an "internationally notifiable" FMD outbreak infecting Australia had jumped from a 9pc probability to 11.6pc (range 3pc to 20.5pc) in the next five years.
This was updated following a recent structured expert judgement exercise.
It is a somewhat similar situation to what we've dealt with before - a highly contagious disease, industries at risk, strengthened border controls and reliance on a vaccine roll-out.
And the outbreak comes as an influx of holidaymakers flock to Bali, after COVID travel bans were lifted in March.
Currently, 29 passenger services arrive into Perth from Denpasar weekly - four per day - and covering about 5000 seats.
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There are no services between Perth and larger Indonesia, however this could change in coming months.
A Perth Airport spokesperson said airline partners continued to review their networks and add flights were required.
The spokesperson said the Qantas Group had advised it intended to start operating a service between Perth and Jakarta in November.
In response to the Bali outbreak, biosecurity officers at airports have been operating with increased vigilance.
The detector dogs posted at the airport cannot detect FMD virus fragments, but instead react to meat products and a range of other biosecurity risk indicator threats.
They screen for biosecurity risks across all flights with higher intervention on those that are deemed high risk.
Following confirmation of the Bali outbreak, detector dogs were also deployed at Darwin and Cairns airports.
A DAFF spokesperson said the department was also actively recruiting for additional frontline staff.
Other strengthened measures, which have been imposed at airports, include:
- Additional signage and the distribution of flyers at major airports, informing travellers of FMD risk and precautions.
- Expanded social media campaigns, informing travellers of their biosecurity responsibilities.
- Additional training of airport biosecurity staff.
- Enhancement of mail profiling and inspections.
- Additional measures - including biosecurity officers boarding planes on arrival - and playing a new biosecurity message on all inbound flights from Indonesia, reinforcing Australia's strict biosecurity measures and providing FMD-specific advice to travellers.
- New, targeted operations at major airports servicing travel from Indonesia to check a wider range of passengers, who could be contaminated with FMD, or be carrying contaminated goods and assessment of all passengers on flights from Indonesia, with high risk passengers identified for intervention.
The DAFF spokesperson said Australia had strict biosecurity protocols in place to prevent high risk materials, such as contaminated equipment or clothing, animals and animal products, being brought in by travellers who may have been exposed to diseased animals.
In terms of vaccines, highly effective FMD vaccines were available on the commercial market internationally.
"These protect livestock against infection with FMD and from spreading FMD to other livestock," the spokesperson said.
"There are several stereotypes of FMD and each of these has multiple sub-types.
"It is important to match the vaccine used against the outbreak strain encountered.
"The outbreak strain in Indonesia was FMDV O/ME-SA/Ind-2001e."
The DAFF spokesperson said Indonesian authorities had purchased appropriate vaccines and Australia also held stock in its vaccine bank appropriate to this outbreak strain.
They said Australia's FMD vaccine bank was held offshore and could be manufactured in seven days.
"Australia does not manufacture FMD vaccines.
"Vaccine is only to be used in the event of disease incursion as its use immediately affects our international animal health status."
