Timeline key to cattle disease doubt

Five-day incubation period is the key ‘point of conflict’ between Australia and Indonesia over cattle disease suspension.

Chief Veterinary Officer Mark Schipp says Australia remains free of lumpy skin disease. Picture: AAP

Indonesian authorities say it is unlikely 13 Australian cattle that tested positive for the highly infectious lumpy skin disease contracted the virus and became infectious within the five days they were in the country.

The short timeframe between arriving aboard live export vessels and testing positive is behind Indonesia’s suspension of imports from four export ­facilities in Australia.

Australian authorities are adamant the disease is not present in Northern Australia and say that it is probable the 13 cattle contracted the virus within the five-day timeframe or even on board the export ship.

“This is the point of conflict with Indonesia, that the textbook says between five and 15 days for an incubation period,” Chief Veterinary Officer Mark Schipp told The Australian.

“Indonesia is saying, ‘Well, these cattle are testing positive, five days ago we didn’t have them, you had them, so they must have been infected in Australia’.

“We’re arguing that the test that they’re using is sensitive enough to detect early infection, or that they’ve been vaccinated and we know that some of these cattle were vaccinated after arrival before they were tested.”

Australia is working to allay Indonesia’s concerns and to remove the suspension.

It has increased cattle testing at the four yards in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The government is confident the disease is not in Australia and hopes to have the suspension lifted within two weeks.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry estimates a serious outbreak of lumpy skin disease in Australia would cost the economy $7.39bn.

“Indonesia has suspended four of the export yards until we complete an investigation, so to do that we’re testing cattle out of those yards and that’s commenced today,” Dr Schipp said.

“We’re collecting about 65 samples from each of those lots of cattle and they’ll be tested at the regional laboratories and then again at the national reference laboratory in Geelong that’s run by CSIRO. Once we have those results, we’ll provide those to Indonesia.”

The suspension of the four export facilities at the height of the live export season to Indonesia has caused significant disruptions to exporters.

Lumpy skin disease can cause significant production losses in cattle and is easily spread by biting insects. A local outbreak would severely disrupt trade relationships and could also affect meat and dairy exports.

Nationals leader David Littleproud called for calm and said he was confident Australia remained free of the disease.

“I’m very confident the testing will prove that the cattle that have tested positive were in yards in Indonesia for a number of days,” he said. “I think it’s important that we demonstrate that with science, that we give our trading partners that certainty.”

“I think we need to create that environment for the department to be able undertake that but I’m very confident in our science.”