MEDIA RELEASE
13 August 2003

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COOPERATION THE ANTIDOTE TO MODERN PLAGUES

Dr Jeggo was speaking today at "The Livestock Revolution: A Pathway from Poverty?" with international speakers including The Rt Hon Mike Moore, the former Director General of the World Trade Organisation; Dr Carlos Seré, Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute, and Dr Chris Delgado from the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.

Dr Jeggo says Australia can play an important role in collaborating with other countries in helping identify and manage disease outbreaks. He says a complex interplay of factors such as climate change, wider travel of humans and animals, and changes in farming practices, have resulted in the emergence of an increasing number of new diseases.

"In a greatly more interconnected world, developed countries like Australia cannot solely rely on quarantine systems and monitoring their own patch, but must continue to engage with the rest of the world to solve disease problems," Dr Jeggo says. "The failure to tackle disease threats from the developing areas of the globe will provide a constant threat to livestock producers in countries like Australia, because diseases do not respect national borders. The problem needs to be attacked on a global basis."

The success of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Campaign is an example of what can be achieved through cooperative world-wide efforts. "This devastating cattle disease is now confined to a small pocket of East Africa and total eradication is almost within grasp. This is thanks to a global approach, including development of an effective vaccine.

"The good news is that scientific understanding of the biology of disease is evolving so fast that the scope for better vaccines and diagnostics is growing perhaps even faster than the increasing threat of new disease outbreaks," Dr Jeggo says.

"Viruses have always changed and evolved, but when the environment changes29 December, 2004ccessful in a new way," he explains. The UK's 2001 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak is another example of the impact of a changing virus. "FMD virus mutates readily and this has led to an evolving complex of diseases," Dr Jeggo says.

"So, the FMD enemy is a constantly moving target and while it makes headlines when outbreaks occur in developed countries, it is a continual cause of suffering and poverty in many developing countries," he says. For further information, to receive the range of other media statements from the conference or to arrange interviews contact Cathy Reade at the ATSE Crawford Fund on 0413 575 934. The program, all press releases, bios and abstracts from the event are at www.crawfordfund.org

The ATSE Crawford Fund wishes to thank its sponsors and supporters for this event including: AFFA, AusAID, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, ACIAR, CRC for Innovative Dairy Products, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Dairy Australia, GRDC, IFPRI, ILRI, Meat and Livestock Australia, and University of Sydney Orange

The ATSE Crawford Fund
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