There are five viral families Australia needs to prepare for as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) warns the world could face two pandemic threats a year.
The latest report, Strengthening Australia’s Pandemic Preparedness, released today canvasses what more the Australian government and scientific community must do as climate change, environmental destruction and globalisation fuel the emergence of new infectious diseases.
The Indo-Pacific is a hotspot for disease, the report’s authors warned yesterday, urging Australia to increase its virus and host knowledge around viral families Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Paramyxoviridae and Togaviridae.
The Paramyxoviridae family is perhaps the most alarming: unique to Asia and Australia, it has high mortality rates and is easily spread through aerosols and contaminated surfaces. It’s behind the Hendra virus, which initially travelled from fruit bats to horses to humans, spreading across Queensland. While there’s a Hendra vaccine for horses, there’s no vaccine or specific medical treatment for infected humans.
Togaviridae is the family behind some encephalitis viruses, which cause inflammation of the brain. These viruses are spread by insects, are seasonal, and are behind Ross River fever — the most common insect-borne viral disease in Australia.
Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and Zika are all part of the Flaviridiae family and can be transmitted by domesticated animals. Many of those infected are asymptomatic.
Finally, COVID-19 and influenza families made the list. Coronaviridae causes COVID-19, SARS and MERS, with diseases potentially spreading through Australia’s bats and wild camels. Australia has one of the largest populations of wild camels in the world and there are hundreds of coronaviruses circulating among animals. Thankfully they don’t frequently make the jump to humans.
Influenza is part of the Orthomyxoviridae family, which is highly infectious and mutates quickly, causing epidemics and pandemics in humans.
Viral outbreaks have been more frequent and severe over the past 100 years, the report said, requiring nationally coordinated investments in science and technology to limit the health and economic impacts of infectious diseases. The report made 20 recommendations to bolster Australia’s response.
Along with researching the five viral families listed, Australia should also improve and diversify onshore vaccine manufacturing, develop readily available commercial antivirals and improve virus diagnostics. Our national coordination is subpar, the report finds, and it calls for a national genomic analysis authority to improve data collection and sharing.
Thank you Amber. I appreciate more understanding, camels are dangerous!
Mosquitoes! There’s the current danger. We won’t see camels in city streets, but mozzies are everywhere.
They love me. Home remedies don’t work – one needs industrial strength insecticide on all visible body parts for some protection. And if one sweats a bit, the mozzies hone in to that area.
Seriously thinking of loose pants, socks, long sleeved top buttoned to neck, then a beekeepers hat and net for any visit outside.
However, (joking aside) the mosquito situation is very serious. This is one new disease/diseases that needs urgent attention and probably more funding.
Plus producing vaccines in australia.
DEET works. It’s maligned as a bad chemical but is made from pepper. One in a million people have a bad reaction. Tropical strength and no worries. With a wet spring and summer likely this should be a bad year for RRV. Loose light coloured clothing is best.
I don’t know why Hendra virus makes it on the list. It’s a rarity in humans, and human to human spread is unknown, a necessity for a pandemic to occur.
As yet!
Mutation!
Unless it is accepted that virtually all diseases are zoonotic, it is interesting that HIV & covid are thus designated.
No suggestion of gain-of-function research and the 4Hs of HIV which resulted in both their virulence and contagiousness.
The main reason ‘flu mutates annually is that it is a disease of water fowl, esp geese & ducks, which have this annoying global migration habit.
Why can’t there be passport & visa requirements imposed on these plague carriers, as with other foreigners polluting our precious bodily fluids?
Is it Dromedary or Bactrians I need to be vigilant for at the tram stop?
The hidden ‘sting’ in the Neoliberal climate denialism and probably the most damaging to the financial bliss they desire.
Big Pharma in the US and Europe may reap some initial rewards though, until virtual no one can afford the cures.