00:02Dr Emmanuelle Soubera, thank you very much for joining us.
00:07Just how devastating can the H5 strain of bird flu be if it's not managed properly?
00:13In terms of numbers, over the past two decades, there were more than 603 million birds that
00:21has been lost through infection or through measures, control measures.
00:29And this is not stopping, it is more increasing.
00:34What is the most important thing for Australia to be doing to avoid the worst of those impacts?
00:40Surveillance is very important.
00:42Rapid laboratory diagnostic and genomic sequencing to really understand where does the virus
00:53come from.
00:54A lot of the surveillance in Australia is relying on people finding sick birds and reporting
01:01it to authorities.
01:02Is that enough?
01:04It is very important because it is very effective.
01:07You can also have some active surveillance, but then you need to know where to do this
01:17active surveillance, which means that you need a risk-based surveillance in poultry, in
01:23backyards, in wild birds also.
01:26There's been a lot of concern about the impact on consumers, for example, if egg prices rise.
01:33Is that inevitable or can that be controlled?
01:38It is not inevitable and it is very important.
01:41Again, the most important is to, and that's what Australia is doing, is really to raise
01:47awareness of the importance of biosecurity at the farm level in order to get less, to avoid
01:57contamination of the farm from the migratory birds.
02:01The most important mistake could be not to invest enough in animal health systems, in
02:09veterinary services.
02:11It's important to invest when it's peacetime, to have an army that is able to respond when
02:17it is war, when you have the crisis.
02:21Dr. Emmanuelle Soubera, thank you very much for your time.
02:24Thank you very much.
02:25Thank you very much for your time.
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