The Use Of Disinfectant Foot Baths With Passengers Arriving From Countries With Foot And Mouth Disease

Disinfectant footbaths are used in New Zealand facilities that deal with international refuse off ships and aircraft. Alongside other measures, they help prevent the transmission of disease from the facility to the outside. There is a reasonable expectation that virus or bacteria from the refuse could come in contact with the sole and the sides of the shoe.

Footbaths for air passengers arriving in New Zealand involves a different scenario and is considered unlikely to provide any greater degree of security than current measures in place. Current measures include the inspection and cleaning and disinfecting of shoes if required.

Foot and Mouth Disease can be carried on footwear. The cleaning and disinfecting of footwear is part of the UK's attempt to stem the spread of infection. It would also be used in New Zealand in the event of an outbreak of a serious exotic disease. However it should be noted that cleaning and disinfecting only occurs at a location where there is a real possibility of infection actually being present. In addition, the cleaning and disinfecting is a process whereby footwear is subject to a thorough wetting and scrubbing that removes all traces of contamination. This can not be achieved by stepping on a damp disinfectant mat.

If footbaths were to be used to provide additional security then they would need to be deep enough to cover the entire sole of the shoe. It should also be long enough (at least 10 metres) to ensure that by the time the passenger stepped out at the other end all traces of contamination would be washed off. The Australians are concerned that damping the shoes only may reactivate the virus or loosen contamination sufficiently that it drops off later.

There is no guarantee that passengers will arrive in New Zealand wearing their contaminated footwear. The passenger may have packed the footwear in their baggage in which case it would not be subjected to the footbaths.

Page last updated: 7 August 2008