[Joshua Mills]

2012 HSC Biology exam question

During a major international horse event in Australia, a group of horses, including
some from overseas, is discovered to be infected by a deadly virus. This virus is only
found in Australia.

Give reasons for strategies that could be carried out to control this disease outbreak [4 marks]

• This topic was modified 6 months, 4 weeks ago by Joshua Mills.
• This topic was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by Joshua Mills.

[daniel r]

– disinfection the places where the horses have been so that if the virus can live on surfaces it is killed
– quarantine the horse which has travelled overseas as well as the horses which are still in Australia, to control the spread of the virus between horses
– put in place strict international border checks to ensure that the virus does not spread internationally
– start the production of possible vaccines in order to control the spread of the virus

[Joshua Mills]

Could have also included:
Vets to wash body, clothes and equipment to stop the spread of pathogens
Wait for incubation period to have elapsed before releasing horses from quarantine

 

Already a 4 mark response

[cameron]

– isolation of horses, this would be useful as it minimizes the chance of the disease being transferred between horses (directly or indirectly). it also allows for infected horses to be treated without risking others.

– Stop horses from leaving australia, this would stop the disease from becoming an pandemic as no infected horses could leave. this also allows epidemiologists time to conduct studies to determine how best to treat the disease.

 

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