Managing anthrax risk

Good biosecurity and management practices help prevent anthrax outbreaks and minimise its spread.

Farm biosecurity plan

Include anthrax-specific measures in your farm biosecurity plan if your property:

  • is in a high-risk region (for example, southern Queensland or the ‘anthrax belt’)
    or
  • receives stock from high-risk areas.

Your biosecurity plan should include measures to:

  • prevent
  • monitor
  • respond.

Prevent

Anthrax is a serious bacterial disease that can cause sudden death in livestock. Bacillus anthracis spores are extremely resilient and can survive in the environment for decades (at least 50 years).

Spores can be exposed through:

  • heavy rainfall, flooding or drought
  • soil disturbance, such as earthworks, road building and dam excavation.

Livestock management

  • Exclude livestock from areas known or suspected to be contaminated.
  • Maintain secure fences to prevent livestock from straying into high-risk areas.
  • Monitor new livestock from high-risk regions for clinical signs before mixing them with other stock.
  • Rotate grazing areas to avoid overgrazing in anthrax-prone regions, which may expose buried spores.
  • Inspect feed and water sources after flooding or feral animal disturbance to check for contamination.
  • Vaccinate livestock in high-risk regions or on properties with a history of anthrax.

Soil management

Anthrax spores on the soil surface are easier to destroy than those buried deep in the soil.

  • Minimise soil disturbances (for example, excavating, ploughing or earthworks).
  • Be vigilant after heavy rainfall, dust storms or flooding.
  • Avoid disturbing old burial sites, historic stock camps and low-lying areas in anthrax-prone regions.
  • Keep livestock away from recently disturbed soil.
  • Control feral animals to prevent disturbance of contaminated soil or carcase sites.

If soil disturbance is unavoidable:

  • vaccinate animals
    and
  • monitor for clinical signs of anthrax.

Ongoing vaccination program

For properties in the 'anthrax belt’ or with a history of anthrax, vaccination is likely to be approved.

Vaccinate:

Monitor

Protect human health by watching for symptoms of human anthrax.

Monitor livestock for:

  • unexplained sudden deaths, especially in cattle and sheep
  • clusters of deaths in the same paddock or group
  • clinical signs of anthrax, particularly after major weather events and soil disturbance.

Respond

If anthrax is suspected:

You have a general biosecurity obligation to take all reasonable and practical measures to prevent or minimise the effects of biosecurity risks such as anthrax. This means you are legally required to reduce the risk of anthrax and limit its spread when dealing with possible carriers.

Also consider…