Australia's chief vet has backed calls by the cattle industry to import live samples of lumpy skin disease so that scientists can start working on a vaccine to protect the nation's $40 billion red meat industry.
Mark Schipp has returned from a trip to Indonesia where the disease has been spreading through Sumatra's Riau province.
Authorities there are trying to vaccinate about 83,000 cattle in the region.
Dr Schipp also saw the effects of the disease first-hand while visiting a farm in Singapore that was dealing with an outbreak.
"Animals that are in poor condition or weak are severely affected, to the extent they're no longer able to walk or feed," he said.
"In a dairy situation in Singapore it's not such an issue, because the cattle can be supported, fed and watered.
"But if this was to occur in Australia it would be much more challenging, because the ability to nurse individual animals simply doesn't exist in extensive cattle holdings."
Calls to bring disease to Geelong
The Cattle Council of Australia says the nation's best scientists should be given access to live samples of the disease so a vaccine can be developed.
"CSIRO's Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong is a Level 4, purpose-built world-class facility designed to manage research and development for disease and viruses," Cattle Council president Markus Rathsmann said.
"Some simple vaccines have been developed overseas, but they carry an unacceptable risk of actually spreading the virus and other contaminants.
Dr Schipp said the Geelong facility was built for the purpose of working with diseases like lumpy skin and foot and mouth, but the final approval was never given.
"I think now is the time to be able to work with lumpy skin disease in Geelong," Dr Schipp said.
"The facility has shown it's a highly secure laboratory, with no disease escaping from that facility.
"We need to be able to work with the virus, firstly so we can diagnose it should it arrive in Australia, and secondly so we can work on an effective vaccine rather than a live vaccine."
He said it would ultimately be a decision for federal cabinet and that he was working with all state and territory governments, as well as livestock industries, to gather support and identify any concerns before making a request to change the laboratory's status.
Dr Schipp said protecting Australia from the disease was vital.
"An outbreak here would have serious trade impacts across the live animal trade, for exporters of dairy products, genetic materials, hides and some meat products, in addition to animal welfare issues and significant production losses," he said.
