Indonesia’s foot-and-mouth outbreak shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s been decades in the making – just the latest consequence of biosecurity shortcomings in the region.
Spraying disinfectant on an Indonesian cattle farm infected with foot and mouth disease in July 22.
Getty Images
New Zealand has ramped up biosecurity measures due to an Indonesian foot and mouth scare, but the disease can have huge impacts well beyond the agricultural economy.
Michelle Grattan discusses the week in politics, including the threat of foot and mouth disease, the government’s climate bill and the grim economic news ahead.
Africa’s famous animal migrations are increasingly blocked by fences, erected by farmers to keep their livestock safe from disease. But a new approach aims to deliver healthy beef and healthy wildlife.
Hand, foot and mouth disease may not be a public health priority, but parents and caregivers at day-care centres should still be careful about its spread.
Honeybees pollinate a third of Australia’s food crops. Losing them due varroa might would cost the economy billions of dollars.
David McClenaghan
A nationwide outbreak of foot and mouth disease; an invasion of a devastating wheat disease; our honeybees completely wiped out. These are just three possible disastrous scenarios facing Australia; they’re…
As Arthur Conan Doyle said, “it is easy to be wise, after the event”. When it comes to infectious diseases, decisions about how to manage and contain them have been traditionally informed by prior experience…
Foot and mouth disease wreaks havoc on the economies of countries where it breaks out.
CSIRO
Australia has been free of foot and mouth disease since 1872, but it is still considered the most serious biosecurity threat to Australia’s agricultural industries. A widespread outbreak could cost the…