WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/619 
18 January 2006 
 (06-0233) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
EXERCISE ELEUSIS – AVIAN INFLUENZA SIMULATION 
 
Communication from Australia
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 18 January 2006, is being circulated at the request 
of the delegation of Australia. 
 
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1. Australia has an internationally acknowledge d capability to deal with emergency animal 
disease incidents and has successfully  done so in the past.  At the same time, Australia continually 
works to improve the systems in place to deal  with potential disease outbreaks.  One of the 
mechanisms it uses is disease simulations, such as "Exercise Minotaur", a foot and mouth disease 
simulation conducted in 2002. 
I. EXERCISE ELEUSIS 
2. From 29 November to 1 December 2005, Austra lia conducted Exercise Eleusis '05, a response 
to a simulated outbreak of avian influenza.  Avian influenza was chosen as the basis of the simulation 
given the spread of the H5N1 strain throughout Asia  and that such an Exercise would test the ability 
of the country to respond to a significant outbreak of a zoonotic (animal to human) disease in three 
Australian States.  In this instance, the Exer cise did not involve physical field operations. 
3. The objective of the Exercise was to test the integration and functiona l capacity of national 
arrangements including those that have a human health  aspect.  Further, the interaction between health 
and agriculture during this ex ercise was closely monitored. 
4. Development of Exercise Eleusis '05 was led by the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and 
Forestry and the Department of Health and Ageing.   It involved participants from a wide range of 
Government and industry organisations.  Leadersh ip of the simulated response came from the 
agriculture and health agencies in the Australian G overnment and their counterparts in the Australian 
states and territories.  A broad range of other gove rnment agencies in both the Australian Government 
and the states and territories also participated in the exercise including the Australian Government 
Departments of Prime Minister & Cabinet, Foreig n Affairs and Trade, Treasury and Industry and 
Resources and Finance.  The egg and chicken industries also strongly contributed to the simulation.  It 
is estimated that over 1000 people participated (dir ectly and indirectly) nationally in the Exercise and 
its lead up activities. 
5. The role of participants was primarily decisi on making and undertaking actions to support the 
decision making.  The following was specifically tested during the exercise: 
- Nation-wide response arrangements; G/SPS/GEN/619 
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  - Human disease diagnostic and management capability; 
- Administrative arrangements; 
- Logistical arrangements; 
- Communication requirements; 
- Disease control policies and strategies; 
- Joint human health and agricultu re response arrangements; and 
- Interstate trade issues. 
 
6. A number of international observers were present during the Exercise, including from the 
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) along 
with international human health officials. 
II. OUTCOMES OF "EXERCISE ELEUSIS '05" 
7. Exercise Eleusis '05 proved to be a highly successful test of Australia's ability to respond to a 
simulated multi-focal outbreak of highly pathogenic avia n influenza.  It demonstrated that Australia's 
response arrangements for significant animal health  incidents, including zoonotic outbreaks, are 
robust.  It was a highly valuable training event that confirmed the value of improvements 
implemented since "Exercise Minotaur" in 2002. 
8. High level national committees are in the process of formally considering the outcomes of the 
Exercise.  Pending finalisation of their reports, the following is provided as an interim summary of the 
key outcomes. 
9. Linkages between agriculture and health agen cies throughout the country worked well during 
the Exercise.  This was underwritte n by the exchange of liaison officers at response centres, exchange 
of situation reports and reciprocal participation in national management committees.  However, this 
now needs to be more fully considered and form alised at the jurisdictional and national levels. 
10. A clear national policy and process is required for assessing the risk to human health of 
zoonotic disease outbreaks and making rapid decisions on the level of personal protection required by 
workers at risk of exposure.  This includes pe rsonal protective equipment and, where appropriate, 
additional medical measures such as antiviral prop hylaxis for avian influe nza or antibiotics for 
anthrax.  This rationale must be communicated to  all parties (the public, response personnel, poultry 
producers/workers, service providers, medical  practitioners, etc).  Public acceptance and 
understanding of such policies will be greatly stre ngthened if jurisdictions align their policies and 
practices nationally to undertake specific communication of them. 
11. Public communications associated with a zoono tic disease outbreak would be a considerable 
challenge requiring significant resources.  The national networks and associated public communications systems already established for both agriculture and health agencies worked well but 
would need to be substantially scaled up in terms of  resources to handle the media and public interest 
that would be generated. 
12. The sheer quantity of information generated in  such a response demands the use of highly 
effective information technology based systems.   An action from Exercise Minotaur was the 
acquisition of such a system and it is planned that  this technology will be trialled in late 2006. 
13. Maintaining the currency of disease response stra tegies in light of advances in scientific 
understanding of zoonotic diseases, such as avian infl uenza, requires a continuing investment by all 
jurisdictions in adequate numbers in skilled planning and response pe rsonnel.  This investment needs 
to occur in both the agri culture and health sectors.  G/SPS/GEN/619 
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  14. Co-ordinated action is the key to a successful response when a disease outbreak effects have a 
national impact.  National committees must clearly  articulate a national objective and ensure that 
jurisdictional responses work in a complimenta ry manner to attain national objectives. 
15. In developing "Exercise Eleusis '05", it was rec ognised that the topic of avian influenza would 
be highly complex, requiring a multi-faceted planning process.  The success of the exercise was due 
to the use of a multi-disciplinary planning team capable of developing an exercise covering all aspects 
(veterinary, industry, health, economic and social) of a potential response.  This Exercise allowed a 
scenario that was recognised by partic ipants as valid in all respects.  Use of lead-in events to review 
particular aspects of a complex problem was highly be neficial.  A key learning for future exercises is 
the need to adequately resource the exercise planning process and, in particular, the planning team to 
allow them to focus on the development of the exercise. 
16. The Exercise evidenced the benefit of early  action against the source of potential avian 
influenza outbreaks.  In terms of national interest , this means focusing efforts on disease prevention in 
our region and strengthening preventative strate gies (surveillance and quara ntine border activities) on 
shore. 
17. Australia will make available copies of the formal report on "Exercise Eleusis '05" to 
Members, and will post the report on the DAFF webs ite (www.daff.gov.au) later in 2006.  Australia 
believes that there is an opport unity for increased international sharing of lessons learned from 
simulations such as "Exercise Eleusis '05" and notes that several countries have also held, or plan to 
hold, significant avian influenza simulations.  In ternational organisations such OIE, FAO and the 
World Health Organisation are well pos itioned to assist with this task. 
 
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