Australian animal health lab worth $145M nears completion

Press, 18 February 1983, Page 23

Australian animal health lab worth $145M nears completion

A large, almost windowless white building nearing completion in the Victorian bayside city of Geelong is Australia’s insurance policy against introduced animal disease devastating its livestock industries. The Australian National Animal Health Laboratory, (A.N.A.H.L.) will be the world's most advanced ani-mal-health facility when it opens in 1985.

Canadian and French officials planning their own health facilities have already inspected it. Japanese experts are also monitoring its construction.

A.N.A.H.L. exists for the diagnosis and control of any exotic livestock disease that may penetrate quarantine barriers — and for research into these diseases. More than 500 man-years of effort by scientists, engineers and architects have been directed at building a fail-safe container for some of the most contagious micro-organisms known to man. including foot-and-mouth disease virus.

Although Australia . has been free of foot-and-mouth disease this centurj', it remains a nightmare to haunt the rural community and animal health officials. An outbreak would stop exports and cost an estimated sAust.2OO million a month until it was eradicated. The A.N.A.H.L will cost about sAu?t.l4s million. Dr J. Paul Wild, chairman of the national science agency which will operate the laboratory. the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (C.5.1.R.0.), said early detection and containment of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would recover the

construction cost in less than a month. While quarantine exists to keep disease out, A.N.A.H.L. is designed to keep deadly infections in. After investigating 40 sites throughout Australia, the planners took over the Government s Geelong Rifle Range. As the building rose on the shores of Corio Bay, controversy arose over a crucial role of A.N.A.H.L. - importing dangerous viruses, including foot-and-mouth disease, for research purposes before an outbreak occurs.

Many livestock organisations and some senior scientists now oppose this. In response. Dr Wild recently said: “There is an overwhelming body of opinion that favours the construction of a high-security anima] health laboratory. However, the question as to whether foot-and-mouth disease virus should be imported before any outbreak is highly controversial. Many farmers are naturally opposed to the idea of taking any risk. “The Government, acting on expert advice, strongly supports the importation of the live virus in order to make the laboratory fully effective, but has undertaken that there would be full consultation with the livestock industries before importation. World experts have acclaimed the measures taken to ensure the security of the world's most advanced microbiological research laboratory." Vaccine production is a minor function of A.N.A.H.L. Its major role will be in disease diagnosis, training and research. At present, specimens from suspected exotic disease outbreaks have to be sent overseas for initial diagnosis.

A.N.A.H.L. will have the staff and microbiological security to make the initial diagnosis and carry out the thousands of follow’-up tests needed if an outbreak is confirmed — tests that could not be performed overseas. Time saved by doing these tests locally could be critical for an effective eradication campaign.

The officer in charge of A.N.A.H.L., Dr Bill Snowdon, will eventually supervise 35 scientists, 95 technicians, 25 administrative and scientific support staff and 45 maintenance staff. Dr Snowdon has been involved with the project since feasibility studies started in 1970. For the past two years he has worked on the site. While there can be no guarantee that no virus will ever escape, he believes that risks are immeasurably small, and acceptable. The designers have duplicated, sometimes triplicated, services critical to safety. For instance, the building could operate for several weeks without external power, drawing electricity from its own diesel generators. The vast machinery hall has three steam boilers: only one is needed for normal operation. The second one is kept warmed-up, the third on reserve. Beyond are three diesels for emergency power if both separate, duplicated external power lines into the building fail. Only two of the four airincinerators serving the highrisk animal holding areas

are needed at a time — the others are back-ups. “There is at least 100 per cent standby equipment for all essential machinery,” Dr Snowdon said.

The building is almost devoid of windows, to lessen the chance of air leaks. The only break from blank walls is in areas not requiring microbiological security and in the microbiologically secure canteen.

A.N.A.H.L. was designed to standards applied to nuclear power stations, to withstand events expected only once in 10,000 years: an earthquake of 5.8 on the Richter scale, or wind gusts up to 300 km an hour. To overcome a possible storm surge from adjacent Corio Bay, planners moved 170,000 cubic metres of soil to raise the site by 2 m, creating two artificial lakes in the process. About 70 per cent of A.N.A.H.L’s floor space .is dedicated to the services, machinery and barriers which protect its microbiological security. Of 6.6 ha of floor space on five levels. 3.5 ha are secure areas.

The heart of its defences is a "box within a box” of differential air pressures protecting the high-risk and medium-risk zones. Slightly reduced air pressures mean that any leakage can only be into the danger areas.

More than 500 Australiandesigned airtight doors fitted with inflatable rubber rims provide access via air locks to the secure areas.

All air coming from risk areas goes through two highefficiency particulate air filters in series. Their glassfibre paper filters (of the type used in nuclear plants) will trap any virus. A.N.A.H.L. has 930 of the specially designed and patented stainless steel drumshaped containers that house the filters.

Air from the high-risk areas can also be incinerated — heated to 350 degrees Celsius for a second — after the dual filtering. ' All new systems were tested from one to four years. A patented computerised control ’ system was tested for 18 months before being accepted for use on

almost all of the engineering plant. Fire precautions include sprinklers or special gas systems originally designed for spacecraft. Some of the largest areas, particularly animal stalls and post-mortem rooms, are “wet areas” which can be hosed from the ceiling down. Design, including use of pre-cast concrete walls and special seals, concentrated on reducing the number of “holes” which had to be made airtight despite the many reticulated services; electricity, hot and cold water, natural gas. steam, compressed air, breathing air, and carbon dioxide and purified water for laboratory purposes.

About 5000 "penetrations” of the building structure, including the airtight doors,

have been tested under pressure to prove they wereairtight. No animal entering the laboratory will leave it alive. Carcases will, go to one of the two furnaces, which include an afterburner in the 38m chimney. Animal and human wastes will be sterilised in a basement sewage plant. People will enter the central area through airlocks after discarding outside dress and donning light cotton clothing. At the end of their shift, clothing will be sterilised before being laundered. In the most dangerous areas ■ they may handle viruses indirectly through gloved cabinets or walk around in transparent airtight polyurethane “breathing suits” which can be plugged into different air-

supply outlets. They must shower in peracetic acid before changing from the suits. In dangerous areas they will work in pairs.

Staff will work in airconditioned comfort at about 24 degrees Celsius. The animal rooms will be at 16 degrees to compensate for the heat the animals generate.

Outside the laboratory there are additional precautions. Staff must agree to avoid contact with susceptible livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and poultry) for seven days after leaving the laboratory; and such livestock cannot be kept within a 1.5 km radius of the laboratory. Householders within this buffer zone will be able to keep domestic pets including cats, dogs and caged birds.