Responding to exotic disease alerts - the role of IDC Wallaceville
Members of the animal and marine
incursion team
Call the MAF 0800 exotic disease and pest emergency hotline and you could potentially set in motion a chain reaction involving dozens of people, all highly skilled and drilled in their role in a complex response process. Maintaining New Zealand's freedom from serious livestock diseases requires reliable systems to investigate and respond to suspected incursions of exotic pests and diseases.
The MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) Investigation and Diagnostic Centre (IDC) in Wallaceville, Upper Hutt manages these investigations and the initial response to any suspected exotic animal disease. (IDC – Wallaceville is one of three Investigation and Diagnostic Centres in New Zealand but is the only centre that deals with animal and marine life. The others – in Auckland and Lincoln – are concerned with plants and environmental pests.)
Veterinarian Paul Bingham is the manager of IDC – Wallaceville's animal and marine incursion investigation team of six veterinary epidemiologists and a marine parasitologist. These are the people who assess phone calls to the 0800 number and decide which ones need to be investigated.
"By talking with the caller on the phone we can eliminate exotic disease in many cases and stand them down there and then. Others get re-directed and a few warrant comprehensive investigation if we suspect an unwanted organism or a new or emerging disease," explains Paul. "The system has high sensitivity, which is essential so we don't risk missing something significant."
Investigating calls from the public
Calls come in from members of the public, veterinary practitioners, regional diagnostic laboratories or from another part of MAF or another public sector agency. The number needing investigation is higher than you might expect. In the year to July 2007, IDC investigated 155 calls – about three every week.
"Ninety-three of these were disease investigations and, of those, 49 were for suspected OIE List A or List B diseases," says Paul. "The other 62 were suspected new animal introductions such as exotic lizards, marine invaders or snakes."
Fortunately, most of the disease investigations proved negative, although in five animal investigation cases, a new or unwanted organism was diagnosed. These included deformed wing virus in bees, three exotic ticks and two diseases that are first reports for New Zealand – Moraxella (Branhamella) catarrhalis and rabbit oral papilloma virus. Thirty-six investigations identified new animal species, many of them marine animals or post-border interceptions of exotic lizards. The team also managed MAFBNZ's initial response to the Varroa destructor detection in the South Island and more recently the surveillance to establish that horses imported into New Zealand following the diagnosis of equine influenza in Australia, were free of disease.
The 0800 calls can come in at any time of the day and night, so each veterinarian in Paul's team is on call for one week in every six. The only marine parasitologist, Rissa Williams, has to be on call all the time.
Paul Bingham with one of the
ready-to-go kits that an investigator
takes into the field when called
to a suspected disease
Ready-to-go kits for field investigators
Field investigations may be conducted by IDC staff or one of its service providers. Depending on the species involved and the location, this could be an AsureQuality veterinarian, an apiary technical officer, Massey University staff member, private veterinarian or MAFBNZ Quarantine Officers. All IDC veterinarians are equipped with their own investigation 'kit', consisting of two hard-shell suitcases containing protective clothing; equipment for clinical examination, necropsy, sample collection and containment; and legal documents. Opened out, the suitcases serve as convenient footbaths. The IDC also has kits specifically for investigating different suspected diseases or pests, such as snake handling kits. The ready-to-go kits allow investigators to travel quickly anywhere in New Zealand.
The IDC includes the Exotic Disease Response Centre and the Animal Health Laboratory, and the staff work closely together. Both are involved when an initial investigation cannot eliminate an exotic pest or disease. The Animal Health Laboratory is the national reference centre for diagnostic laboratory testing for exotic diseases of animals and has a collection of expertise and facilities not available elsewhere in the country.
"If an investigation turns up something we suspect is an exotic disease, this can trigger a response involving many people from outside IDC. IDC becomes the Exotic Disease Response Centre managing the day-to-day operational activity, which will vary according to the circumstances," says Paul.
During a large response, the IDC building will house large numbers of people. Teams of IDC and AsureQuality staff will work around the clock doing traceback, surveillance, movement control, logistics, intelligence and planning.
"The coordination of such an operation is massive. That's why we bring all these people together in one place. We can assemble a large group of veterinary epidemiologists in a short time."
Demanding work environment
Working in this sort of environment can be stressful.
"It puts a high demand on individuals," says Paul. "They work hard and long hours during a response so we need to support them to prevent burnout. The people who work here need to be good communicators and have good balance in life, otherwise they will not last. However, we have some staff who have been here at least seven years, so we must have recruited the right sort of people."
IDC also requires its staff to be highly skilled and qualified. All veterinarians employed there have a Master of Veterinary Science in epidemiology or equivalent and also have to be proficient in legal matters, interviewing, database use and geographic information systems.
When not involved in investigations or responses, there is technical project work to be done. Preparedness planning for dealing with exotic diseases falls to the IDC staff. Its importance was illustrated when equine influenza broke out in Australia – a response plan for New Zealand was ready to swing into action. Similar plans are available or underway for other serious threats to New Zealand's animals.
At any given time, the investigation team is involved in a range of other projects. Graham Mackereth is leading a large multi-agency vector-borne disease and ecology project. Andrew McFadden has just completed a sero-surveillance project on Ross River virus and is now involved with AsureQuality and the Massey University EpiCentre (a veterinary epidemiology training and research centre) in designing an epidemiological toolkit to help monitor and manage exotic disease outbreaks.
Caleb King is leading a project to refine the industry liaison functions during a disease response, in particular, aspects of movement controls and welfare slaughter of animals. Tom Rawdon is involved with numerous avian influenza projects and research. Chris Morley has just returned from the United Kingdom, where he was seconded to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs during their foot and mouth disease (FMD) and bluetongue outbreaks. Rissa Williams is analysing and interpreting results from an ongoing baseline marine survey and is leading a project looking at ganglio-neuritis in abalone. The investigation team is also assisting in the Australian equine influenza outbreak by resourcing an epidemiological position in the outbreak area on a two-week ongoing rotation (see Incursion Investigators support Australian equine influenza response on page 8 of this issue).
Members of the incursion investigation
team undergoing training in 'Breathe easy'
air hoods used for contact with
potentially zoonotic diseases
Keeping the system fine tuned
To test the response systems and keep them fine tuned, exotic disease or pest simulations are conducted regularly and without warning. In recent times, simulated outbreaks of anthrax and FMD have put the systems to the test.
The Animal Health Laboratory (AHL), managed by veterinarian Joseph O'Keefe, has three diagnostic teams: virology (managed by Susan Cork), bacteriology (under Wendy McDonald) and immunology (managed by Clive Pigott). All teams assist in a response and are involved in surveillance for exotic diseases like avian influenza and the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. They also carry out project work and export testing and provide diagnostic services not available from other providers (for example, classical virology). The AHL also houses a PC3 high-level containment laboratory, New Zealand's highest containment designation.
Clive Pigott, whose background is in the human transplant area in the United Kingdom, says the lab brings together a highly specialised team of scientists and veterinarians.
"Their expertise means we can subcontract work as well as do the investigative work. Our staff keep up to date by attending conferences overseas and liaise closely with other laboratory agencies," says Clive.
Strict security for PC3 lab
Containment of material that may carry infectious disease is a particular concern for the laboratory staff, whose diagnostic team receives specimens and despatches them around the world with appropriate containment designation. The PC3 laboratory allows for testing that previously had to be done outside of New Zealand.
"The staff who work in the PC3 lab require special training, as we do diagnostic testing for potentially exotic disease," says Clive. "We also carry out post mortems here. No material can leave the PC3 lab; it must all be autoclaved, disinfected or fumigated. Staff working in the PC3 lab have to follow strict procedures, including showering on the way out. At all times we have a record of who is in the laboratory. Negative pressure means that air is sucked in when the door is opened, and the air is filtered."
Clive explains that having a PC3 lab in New Zealand allows more rapid testing and therefore a more rapid response for tests for vesicular and other exotic diseases such as equine influenza.
"Anything that becomes an investigation gets tested here. For example, we dealt with specimens from the Waiheke Island FMD hoax."
The AHL is currently expanding its aquatic animal disease capability, reflecting the importance of the marine environment to New Zealand's biosecurity concerns. (See Aquatic animal diseases: Spotlight on IDC on page 20 of this issue.)
The laboratory staff are also involved in research projects and developing tests. This increasingly involves molecular techniques, such as a molecular test for infectious bovine rhinotracheitis developed recently and now approved by the World Organisation for Animal Health, the OIE.
- This article was originally published in the November 2007 issue of Vetscript, and is reproduced with permission.
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Page last updated: 30 April 2008