INDONESIAN authorities say they have now vaccinated more than three million susceptible animals in ongoing efforts to bring the highly contagious foot and mouth disease under control.
As of September 27 the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture said some 3.13 million 'tails' (the Indonesia term for livestock) had been vaccinated with mapping showing the disease continued to be contained to western two thirds of the country.
The three million mark comes as questions are being asked over the official 'FMD free' status of the island of Bali, which is set to host the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in mid-November.
The national broadcaster, the ABC, claimed over the weekend it had videoed and seen other videos of livestock displaying FMD symptoms, including lesions on the feet and foam at the mouth.
Indonesian authorities have downplayed those claims, maintaining there are zero FMD cases on Bali.
The reported distribution of FMD in Indonesia is expected to be a focus at the South-East Asian FMD coordinators meeting in Bali next week, which will be attended by Australian animal health experts, including Professor Emeritus Peter Windsor from the University of Sydney vet school
Prof Windsor said controlling FMD across the region required strengthening veterinary service capacities.
"That must be accompanied by regional policies that improve the surveillance of both the transboundary movement of livestock and animal products and detection and reporting of FMD," he said.
Australian authorities are also on high alert after India advised it had recorded almost 100,000 cattle deaths because of viral lumpy skin disease.
Lumpy skin disease is also in Indonesia, but has received little media coverage compared to FMD.
Queensland Live Exporters Association president Greg Pankhurst said the risk of FMD or LSD to Australia would substantially increase if either disease was allowed to spread east through the Indonesian archipelago to Irian Jaya or neighbouring Papua New Guinea.
Mr Pankhurst encouraged more testing on islands that were currently regarded as having zero cases.
The nation had been free of the virus since 1986, until it was detected in East Java during May. Since then some 23 of Indonesia's 37 provinces spread over 17,000 islands have reported outbreaks.
Indonesia has a population of about 65 million FMD susceptible animals including cattle, pigs, goats and sheep.
While seldom fatal, the World Organisation for Animal Health estimates FMD circulates in more than 75 per cent of the global livestock population in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as in a limited area of South America.
The virus can be found in about 70 countries, but has not been detected in Australia for 150 years.
The containment of LSD is considered more of a challenge because it is spread by flies, mosquitoes and possibly ticks.
The Federal Department of Agriculture says there is now a 11.6pc chance of an outbreak of FMD in Australia (up from 9pc) following the detection of disease in Indonesia.
An outbreak of FMD in Australia is expected to cost the economy about abouts $80 billion.
Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline: 1800 675 888.
