A flesh-eating fly could pose a threat to Australian animals, according to a UQ Master of Veterinary Studies graduate.
Dr Saul Chemonges-Nielsen, a member of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, was the first person to research and record the risk posed to pet dogs in Hong Kong from the Old World Screwworm fly (Chrysomya bezziana).
He said the fly that had recently been causing aggressive infestations in pet dogs in Hong Kong could threaten Australian animals as Hong Kong was a source of pet migration and a transit point to Australia.
“If the fly found its way to Australia the socio-economic price would be astronomical due to the death of animals, decreased production, a ban on animal exports and depletion of wildlife,” he said.
Dr Chemonges-Nielson’s research into the Old World Screwworm fly was published in the April edition of the Australian Veterinary Journal.
The fly is a parasite of all warm-blooded animals and is one of the most serious pests of livestock in the Americas. It lays eggs close to skin wounds that hatch, allowing larvae to penetrate the flesh and feed on living tissue. If untreated this can lead to infection and eventually death.
Although Australia is currently free from the Old World Screwworm fly, Dr Chemonges-Nielsen said international trade and pet migration from endemic areas had heightened the risk of Screwworm importation to Australia.
“The Old World Screwworm fly is considered to pose the most direct threat to Australia’s livestock, wildlife and human population,” he said.
Dr Chemonges-Nielsen who graduated from UQ in 1999 said while the risk of Screwworm fly entering Australia by legally imported dogs was minimal, meticulous clinical examination for health certification in Hong Kong should be done in the hours preceding export of pets destined for Australia.
“The unauthorised arrival of ships and people to Australian shores poses the greatest risk of introducing this disease and other exotic diseases into Australia,” Dr Chemonges-Nielsen said.
He said the mandatory immediate quarantine in Australia for imported pets should be upheld with added vigilance for pets from Hong Kong.
Dr Chemonges-Nielsen is the founder of the South East Asian Veterinary Practitioner Journal and manages an animal practice in Hong Kong. He is currently working with the UQ School of Veterinary Science on various research publications unrelated to the Screwworm fly.
Media: For more information, contact Saul Chemonges-Nielsen (telephone Hong Kong, 852 2791 0308 or 852 9526 0047, email: chemonge@netvigator.com) or Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email: c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
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