Livestock disease surveillance

The enviable animal health status of Western Australia’s (WA) livestock is supported by high quality, appropriate disease investigations. These investigations enable reportable diseases (those of national and trade significance) to be ruled out, or if detected, promote early and rigorous response in line with national agreements. National reporting of WA’s disease investigations and surveillance is critical to provision of evidence to support international market access.

The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) provides strategic disease surveillance and testing programs for nationally important diseases as required, such as mad cow disease and bluetongue virus. Fulfilling the requirements of these programs is essential to satisfy international trading partners and to ensure continued market access. In many cases, it also allows preferential access to more lucrative markets for Australian produce.

As part of the livestock disease surveillance program DAFWA supports the Department of Health in notification and control of zoonoses- diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans- and monitors wildlife health where it may intersect with animal health objectives.

Articles

  • This webpage outlines the market impacts of a Johne’s disease (JD) diagnosis, biosecurity practices to reduce the likelihood of JD in sheep occurring on your property, the SheepMAP program, and opt

  • Lupinosis is a liver disease mainly caused by the consumption of lupin stalks colonised by the fungus Diaporthe toxica. It can be expressed as either a severe acute disease or as a chronic

  • Measure water quality and quantity to effectively plan and monitor water supplies for livestock.

  • Pigeon rotavirus was first detected in Western Australia as a result of investigation of a disease outbreak in racing pigeons in May and June 2016.

  • Pig owners play a vital role in maintaining Western Australia's high animal health status and reputation as a producer of quality livestock and livestock products.

  • Cattle producers in the shires of Albany, Denmark and Plantagenet in Western Australia and sheep producers in the shires of Esperance and Ravensthorpe are invited to participate in local surveillan

  • The Northern Australia Biosecurity Surveillance (NABS) project is a coordinated surveillance program to enhance the early detection of exotic disease incursions and to provide sufficient surveillan

  • ‘Calf scours’ is when young calves develop diarrhoea and become dehydrated. The scour can be white, yellow, grey or blood-stained, and is often foul-smelling.

  • There are a variety of possible causes of diarrhoea in adult cattle and they are often different to the common causes of diarrhoea, or scours, in calves.

  • Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) is a virus that infects Australian flying foxes (fruit bats) and microbats.

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