INFECTION CONTROL
Border patrol –
stopping the spread of foot-and-mouth disease Governments, travellers, facility managers, and cleaners all have a role to play in combatting foot-and-mouth disease and other viruses that threaten Australian exports and, health and food security. Words Cameron Cooper
H
aving witnessed first-hand the devastation that foot-andmouth disease (FMD) caused in the United Kingdom in 2001, infectious diseases expert Dr Gavin Macgregor-Skinner pulls no punches about what such an outbreak would mean for Australia. “This would be such a devastating disease if it comes into Australia,” he says. “It would close down communities. It would stop supply chains. It would affect the agricultural sector and the nonagricultural sector. Any compensation would never be enough.” 32 INCLEAN November / December 2022
The threat has suddenly become very real. Since the first case of FMD was identified in Indonesia at the start of May, the virus has spread quickly, with hundreds of thousands of cases being reported, including in the tourism haven of Bali. The crisis has triggered fears that FMD could spread to Australia via travellers and meat imports. Estimates suggest that an outbreak in Australia could cost the economy $80 billion over a 10-year period1. Dr Macgregor-Skinner, director of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a division of ISSA, is calling on governments,
citizens, and the cleaning and hygiene community to do their bit to combat the disease. He also believes moves to clean and disinfect shoes at international airports in an attempt to stop the transmission of FMD into Australia should act as a prompt for similar disease-fighting measures in other parts of the community, including in hospitals and aged-care facilities. “When we go into hospitals and examine drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA, E. coli and flagella, we find that it walks around on shoes all over the place, but no one cleans their shoes in hospitals.”