Diseases

Diseases have a detrimental effect on plants and animals and impact on market access and agricultural production. Diseases include micro-organisms, disease agents (bacteria, fungi and viruses), infectious agents, parasites and genetic disorders.

Western Australia is free from some of the world's major agricultural and livestock diseases. Biosecurity measures on your property are vital in preventing the spread of diseases.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development provides:

  • biosecurity/quarantine measures at the WA border to prevent the entry of plant and animal diseases
  • post border biosecurity measures for harmful animal and plant diseases
  • advice on widespread diseases present in the state.

For advice on animal and plant diseases search our website, the Western Australian Organism List or contact our Pest and Disease Information Service (PaDIS).

For diagnostic services, please contact our Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

See Also

Previous Pause Next

Articles

  • Trucks about to load cattle at a saleyard ramp

    National livestock standstill - frequently asked questions

    5 March 2014

    A national livestock standstill is when it is nationally agreed that specific livestock species affected by an emergency disease must not be moved.

  • Truck transporting sheep off a property

    National livestock standstill for foot-and-mouth disease

    11 December 2013

    Following diagnosis or strong suspicion of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), state and territory governments will implement a livestock standstill across Australia, including in unaffected regions.

  • Plant with purple stems and dark green leaves covered with a bright yellow powder-like fungus.

    Myrtle rust: Biosecurity alert

    8 April 2014

    Myrtle rust is a serious disease that infects and kills many plants belonging to the Myrtaceae family including eucalypts, bottlebrushes, paperbarks and peppermint trees.

  • Blackleg canker in canola

    Managing blackleg in canola

    5 December 2013

    Blackleg is the most regularly occurring, serious disease of canola in Western Australia.

  • pigs

    Pig feed: what you can and can’t feed pigs (swill or prohibited pig feed)

    27 November 2013

    It is illegal to feed meat, meat products and food that has been in contact with meat to pigs in Australia.

  • Benign footrot in sheep and goats in Western Australia

    18 February 2015

    There are two main forms of footrot in sheep and goats: virulent and benign. Both forms are caused by the bacterium Dichelobacter nodosus.

  • Racing pigeon

    Pigeon paramyxovirus (PPMV1)

    10 November 2015

    Pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 (PPMV1) is a contagious viral disease affecting pigeons. It was first detected in Australia in 2011 and is present in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.

  • Null

    Pest and Disease Information Service (PaDIS)

    15 October 2013

    The Pest and Disease Information Service (PaDIS) provides advisory and identification services on animal and plant pests, weeds and diseases that impact Western Australia's agriculture and food ind

  • null

    Papaya sticky disease: biosecurity alert

    16 August 2019

    Papaya sticky disease is absent from Western Australia. It has recently been reported from the Northern Territory, after being detected in Queensland in 2014.

  • null

    Blueberry rust

    12 November 2014

    Blueberry rust is a fungal disease that affects blueberries and some relatives in the Ericaceae plant family. The disease was detected in Western Australia in April 2022.

Pages

Filter by search

Filter by topic