FLAWED TESTING OF IMPORTED PETS COULD BE BEHIND POTENTIALLY DEADLY DOG DISEASE OUTBREAK
Source: ABC News (Extract)
Posted: July 14, 2020
Animal health authorities believe botched testing of imported pet dogs could be behind the recently-discovered outbreak of an exotic and potentially deadly dog disease in northern Australia.
The tick-borne disease Ehrlichiosis was first detected in Australia in May, in WA’s Kimberley region, sparking an investigation into how it got to Australia.
Australia’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Mark Schipp said Ehrlichiosis had likely circulated undetected in northern Australia for months or years, but the exact timing of the introduction was unknown.
Imported pet dogs are not required to be tested for the exotic tick-borne disease in Australia, provided they have been cleared by testing in their country of origin.
However Dr Schipp said the system was not foolproof.
“The testing is not 100 per cent reliable and we know we’ve had situations where dogs have tested negative, and after being imported they’ve been found to be infected.”
Potential loophole in testing system
Melbourne woman Michelle Laruccia made formal complaints about flawed overseas tests for imported pet dogs five years ago, but said nothing was done.
Ms Laruccia raised the alarm about inaccurate test results in 2015, after her dog, Ollie, tested negative for the disease in Europe but positive in Australia.
Ollie was only tested once he arrived in Australia because his tick treatment had lapsed by one day.
“It wasn’t a slightly different result, it was negative [in Europe] all the way up to critically positive results in Australia,” she said.
After his positive test, Ollie was deported back to Europe, beginning an 18-month ordeal involving travel to several countries be properly tested and Ollie’s recovery from the bacterial disease.
Ms Laruccia said she made formal complaints to the Department of Agriculture and Commonwealth Ombudsman, but her warnings went unheeded.
No international testing standard
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said there was no international standard for testing procedures of Ehrlichiosis.
“Australia only accepts laboratory test results for dogs being imported if they have been conducted in an approved country, and by a laboratory which is recognised by the government of the country of export,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the recent detection of the disease had not changed the import requirements for dogs entering Australia.
Pending the results of an investigation into the outbreak of Ehrlichiosis in Australia, the spokesperson said a review of the import conditions may enacted.
Ms Laruccia was finally able to bring Ollie home to Australia in 2017.
Ms Laruccia hopes other dogs and families can be spared from a similar situation, and other exotic diseases can be stopped at the border by fixing what she considers to be a broken system.