Inside the Australian lab where scientists study bird flu and other emerging disease threats
Nate Byrne goes inside the Australian lab where scientists study bird flu and other emerging disease threats.
From the outside, the ACDP is a large, grey, and mostly unremarkable industrial building — but its high-security fences, quarantine signs, and somewhat eerie isolation suggest otherwise.
Inside, past the reception and main offices, a microbiologically “secure” area is enclosed by a 30-centimetre thick concrete wall, which can only be entered through airlocked doors.
Within this secure zone are several tightly controlled, high-containment laboratories held at lower air pressure than the outside world to ensure air flows inward, reducing the risk of viruses and other infectious agents leaking out, ACDP director Debbie Eagles said.