Thousands of people have been working behind the scenes screening, researching, and analysing to help keep the Victorian outbreak under control, after years of preparation, and the signs are positive as farms begin to recover.
Agriculture Victoria has confirmed a farm near Meredith in the south-west of the state has started restocking poultry and officials have begun to scale back quarantine operations after two months with no positive detections of the disease.
"There was a flurry of activity when we saw the positive result come through. You have some dread," he said. "We do extractions to pull out the nucleic acid, the genetic code, and then we set up our tests that are specific for avian influenza on our machines.Research director Grant Rawlins is one of about 150 people who have been on the scene since the outbreak began in May, working from a mobile diagnostics van parked on the farm at the centre of the outbreak.
Victorian broiler sheds can house up to 50,000 chickens each and Dr Rawlins said fatalities were common."We've got a high risk district around here. All of their dead birds are collected by courier and they're brought to the van so we can swab those birds," Dr Rawlins said."It's been quite powerful. We've picked up outbreaks before they were clinically apparent.
Bird Chicken Agriculture Victoria Agribio Lab Bird Flu Diagnostics
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