02-Apr-2020 Theme: 'Viruses'

(1) What viral disease escaped from quarantine on Wardang Island in South Australia in the spring of 1995?

Answer: Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) / Rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD).

(2) What is the devastating viral disease Psittacine Circovirus Disease more commonly known as? (bonus point – what group of species does it infect?).

Answer: Beak and feather disease (bonus: cockatoos, lorikeets and parrots – aka Psittaciformes)

(3) In the summer of 1950/51, three prominent Australian scientists injected themselves with live myxoma virus, to demonstrate that myxomatosis was harmless to humans. Who were they? (one point for each)

Answer: Frank Fenner, Ian Clunies Ross and Macfarlane Burnet.

(4) What was the main symptom of a viral epidemic which swept through kangaroo populations in several States between April 1994 and July 1996?

Answer: Blindness.

(5) What virus is named after the Brisbane suburb where it was first documented as jumping species into humans in 1994? (bonus point – what Australian species is the native reservoir of the virus?).

Answer: Hendra virus. (bonus: flying foxes).

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