These were the wise words of an instructor on the first day of a training course I recently attended in Nepal.

We had to keep our wits about us for a few reasons.

I had flown halfway across the world with 10 other Australian vets and livestock workers to a country where foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic, and we were all going to see it for the first time – the veterinary equivalent of meeting someone famous.

While our main aim for being there was to help prepare Australia for the future by training with real cases of FMD, we also had to make sure we didn’t spread this highly infectious virus to any other farms in Nepal and, especially, bring it back home.

Australia has been free of FMD since 1872, and any outbreak here would have significant impacts.

Consequently, I wore a full biosecurity suit to all suspect farms, and disinfected everything with citric acid as I left.

When I got back to Australia, I underwent a week’s quarantine, part of an agreement not to visit any farms or see any livestock for seven days after completing the course. But it was worth it.

I spent a full week with Australian and Nepalese vets focusing purely on FMD.

We got to see its impact on infected animals, but also how it affects Nepalese farmers and the measures the government is implementing to control this destructive disease.

We made a point of considering what we would do if we had suspected, or confirmed, cases of FMD in Australia.

On the final day we presented some recommendations to representatives of the Nepalese government.

This training program, run by the European Commission for the Control of FMD, has been instrumental in preparing many Australian vets and livestock officers for an FMD response.

While I’m pleased to be one of them, I also hope I never have to meet the Queen or Michael Jackson again.