AUSTRALIA risks being caught unawares by outbreaks of SARS, bird flu and other diseases in what a study describes as a "ring of fire" of disease hotspots.
The study, conducted by Dr Peter Daszak of the Consortium for Conservation Medicine in New York, constructed an earthquake zone map to predict where new outbreaks of diseases such as foot-and-mouth, avian influenza and SARS are most likely to occur.
It found that Australia is effectively under siege from its northern Asian neighbours.
The risk map shows that Australia is surrounded to the north by countries that are some of the hottest of the hot-spots, Dr Daszak said.
