The BioSIRT log (BLog) December 2009

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Collaboration

The Surveillance Reference Group (SRG) held a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) workshop on 18 November.  The primary purpose of the workshop was to discuss strategies for the adoption of the PDA-based surveillance application developed as part of a CRC for National Plant Biosecurity project (CRCNPB).  In the first phase of the CRCNPB PDA project, software was developed to collect surveillance data via PDAs.  A major aim for the second phase of the project is to facilitate the integration of standardised PDA collected data with national initiatives such as BioSIRT and ABIN.

Debra Riddell, the National BioSIRT Program Manager, participated in a Biosecurity Emergency Preparedness Working Group (BEPWG) teleconference in late November.  The harmonisation of logistics management was high on the agenda.

Victoria conducted a large scale Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) exercise in November, called DIVA.

The exercise was tailored for their disease recording system and the scenario of FMD vaccination where a laboratory test can be used to differentiate animals exposed to the virus from those vaccinated for FMD.

The National BioSIRT Senior Administrator, Peter Frecklington, visited both the State Disease Control Headquarters (SDCHQ) and the Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC) and was able to gain considerable experience in the dynamics of information flows in an emergency animal disease response.

Consistency

Team leaders of the National BioSIRT Standards Committee Template Working Group met in Canberra on 19 November.  Specifications for the Generic Health Pest template were drafted and the template release package will be presented to the NBSC for consideration at their first meeting in 2010 in February.

The National BioSIRT template for Khapra Beetle (KHB) is currently in peer review and is expected to be finalised early in the new year.

Khapra Beetle (Trogoderma granarium) originated in India and has since become established in a number of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries.

Khapra beetles are easily transported with agricultural products in shipping containers, vessels or vehicles, even in shipments of canned products, rubber and clothing.  Their ability to survive without food for extended periods enables them to be carried long distances.

Khapra beetle prefer hot, dry conditions and feed by preference on grain and cereal products.  They are often found in grain and food stores, in malthouses, seed processing plants, fodder production plants, dried milk factories, packing materials and kitchen pantries.

The Khapra beetle is considered a serious threat to Australia's grain industry. Grain exports would become considerably more expensive because many countries require fumigation against Khapra beetle.  If this beetle were to establish populations, it would be difficult to eradicate.

2nd International Conference on Risk Analysis & Crisis Response (RACR) - Beijing, China

RACR are biennial International Conferences launched by the Risk Analysis Council of China Association for Disaster Prevention.  Their purpose is to provide an international forum for specialists and stakeholders in risk analysis, crisis response, and disaster prevention.  Debra Riddell, The National BioSIRT Program Manager, was awarded a Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) Development Award for 2009/2010 and was honoured with an invitation to attend this year's RACR.

The RACR-2009 was held at Peking University in Beijing in late October.  The conference enabled multidisciplinary collaboration amongst professionals to further contribute to risk analysis and crisis response, introduce advances in research and practice, and provide for the dissemination of this important knowledge.

The Application

BioSIRT passed a major milestone this month with the release of Version 2.0 (v2.0).  Along with the usual bug fixes and improvements in useability, perhaps one of the best improvements is 'behind the scenes'.  In previous versions, the complexity of the data structure made designing reports difficult, but a set of standard 'reporting views' now gives BioSIRT administrators easy access to the raw data they need to use.

Bugs, issues and enhancements are being recorded in SVIssue for now but will soon be migrating to a similar 'issues management system' hosted on GovDex. Version 2.1 (v2.1) is due out in the second quarter of 2010.

A special feature on v2.0 will appear in next month's BLog!

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Training

Recruitment of a Training and Communications Officer will be finalised in December.  The new recruit will be visiting a training location near you in the new year!

...New Faces...

Nazre Sobhan

I have recently transferred to the BioSIRT National Coordination Team from the former AQIS.  My 9 years of public service with AQIS were preceded by a decade in teaching, research and private sector consultancies.

In the last 5 years, I have developed, implemented and project managed business intelligence projects relating to effectiveness and performance measures of cargo import management and resource-use monitoring and tracking.  Prior to this, I worked as an AQIS IT systems development team member and web team leader.

Before choosing to permanently settle in Australia, we lived across time zones in the USA, Australia and originally on the Indian Subcontinent.  Although I don't like Canberra winter and get heartache when I see the Queenslanders, I really don't have an option as my better half and the children are hooked on the Nation's Capital.  It is destiny that we all call Canberra home where 3 of our 4 children were born!

ABIN - Fruit Fly Surveillance & Predictive Modelling

The Fruit Fly Project will establish a national web interface for routine surveillance and response to fruit fly incidents.  Built on the national BioSIRT platform, the Project will, for the first time, allow researchers and state, territory and commonwealth authorities to view and update a common set of trapping and treatment records.  This web-based capability will also allow rapid predictive modelling using rainfall, temperature and other kinds of spatial data.

Using BioSIRT in this way will reduce duplication of effort, allow unprecedented information sharing, and provide the ability to support claims for market access nationally.

The nationally networked Fruit Fly Surveillance platform will consist of a national repository of fruit fly records and related data, and the software tools and protocols to allow updating and reporting.  The figure above shows the broad architecture.  In brief, the secure system will provide authentication for users, allowing them to access surveillance data. It will communicate with both the Fruit Fly Surveillance web interface and to computers in the jurisdictions or other data providers.  By conforming to open-source data standards, the system will also be able to interact with services provided by other agencies, such as CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Source: www.abin.org.au