Foot and mouth disease Bali: Dr Ross Ainsworth warns of deadly spreading disease

A deadly and highly contagious disease could soon cause devastation across Australia after being detected in Bali.

A prominent vet has warned Australia’s livestock industry could be decimated by a rare disease unless authorities take a stricter approach to travellers arriving from Bali.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) has been detected in Bali, the Indonesian government confirmed over the weekend, heightening fears that unsuspecting tourists are transmitting the virus to Australia.

Bali-based vet Dr Ross Ainsworth said it was the most dangerous period for FMD in 50 years.

“We’re in this dangerous window,” Dr Ainsworth told NewsCorp Australia on Thursday.

“The disease was confirmed in Bali on Saturday but confirmation takes time,” Dr Ainsworth said.

“It’s probably spreading rapidly as we speak,” he said.

FMD has not been found in Australia for more than a century, while Bali eradicated the disease in the 1980s.

The disease can be fatal to livestock and infects cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

Australia’s livestock industry remains at great risk from foot and mouth disease (FMD), a top vet has warned. Picture: ANDI / AFP

Dr Ainsworth said there were important reasons why the presence of the disease in Bali is such a threat to Australia.

He said the number of tourists arriving from Bali was significant, while as a largely Hindu culture, the popular island also had a high number of pigs, which Dr Ainsworth said spread the disease at a higher rate.

He said Bali’s high humidity also allows the disease to spread more rapidly.

Dr Ainsworth said the interaction between people and cattle was greater in Bali than what most people would assume.

He said he lives in the tourist hotspot of Seminyak, and within 400m of his house there are two prominent groups of cows.

Another issue remains vaccinating Bali’s livestock, which Dr Ainsworth said could take as long as one year.

On Wednesday, Federal Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt said the government had ramped up precautions, including having protector dogs at airports and information campaigns.

“There are also well-established plans should FMD be detected in Australia, including an FMD vaccine bank,” Mr Watt said.

But Dr Ainsworth said the Minister’s measures fail on the most critical count: feet washing.

He said he would like to see all returning passengers’ footwear washed once they disembark.

“The cost to the nation is something like 100 billion dollars,” Dr Ainsworth said.

“The fact that it is rather inconvenient to hum bug tourists … is not a good enough excuse,” he said.