Researchers say much more could be done to predict the likelihood and spread of serious disease - such as tuberculosis (TB) or foot-and-mouth disease - in Australian wildlife and commercial stock.
Professor Corey Bradshaw and colleagues have evaluated freely available software tools that provide a realistic prediction of the spread of disease among animals.
They used a combination of models to look at the possible spread of TB among feral water buffalo in the Northern Territory.
Professor Bradshaw says Australia needs to implement tools such as those combining disease and population models to help plan the response to any potential return of TB - or other, nastier diseases, such as foot-and-mouth.
Read more at University of Adelaide