FMD: Indonesia claim no new cases of foot and mouth disease in Bali doubted

Indonesia's foot and mouth taskforce says there have been no active cases in Bali and all of the 551 infected animals have been euthanised, while the remaining three succumb to the disease.

Australian government officials and agricultural industry representatives are reluctant to publicly question the validity of the claims, for fear of damaging international relations with the Indonesian government.

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But principal of Murdoch University's school of veterinary medicine, Dr Henry Annandale, doubted the disease had been totally contained within Bali.

"We are talking about the most contagious virus known to man," Dr Annandale said.

"It's highly unlikely it's completely gone [from Bali], it's difficult to contain and easily transmissible to different species.

"If it's true, it's an extraordinary achievement if they've managed to eradicate or not pick up any positive test at this moment."

Although the news was an "encouraging sign", Dr Annandale cautioned against relaxing any biosecurity measures, as geographical challenges could be contributing to the "lull in positive results".

Dr Annandale said the IOE - the animal health equivalent of the World Health Organisation - had a series of steps for FMD countries to get all trade restrictions removed.

"To put all into context, no country has ever managed to do that in less than six months," he said.

"The economic devastation of FMD is so extensive, obviously governments would try to limit that as much as possible. But history has taught us that it is not always wise to get an outbreak under control."

So far, more than 33,000 of Bali's cattle herd have been vaccinated, representing just 3.5 per cent of the island's 927,000-strong herd.

Professor Tim Mahony, from the Centre for Animal Science at the University of Queensland, said if there was anywhere in Indonesia that was well placed to pursue a strategy of containment and eradication, it was Bali.

"Bali's a smaller island, they were pre-warned that it was likely to get in and they detected the outbreak very early on," Professor Mahony said.

"If you can detect early, get the systems in place and maintain those systems, then you can bring it under control."

The government has resisted calls from the Opposition to close the border with Indonesia, a move which could cost Australia the majority of its $8-billion annual Indonesian trade.