Many people are unaware of their role in passing diseases to animals, while people walking dogs or even picnickers could help prevent the spread of harmful pathogens.
Research presented at a global biosecurity conference in Sydney on Friday also highlighted large gaps in understanding of biosecurity, despite the continuing threats of COVID-19, bird flu, rabies and African swine flu.
Veterinary epidemiology lecturer Maria Rodrigues da Costa said polling of people in 47 countries indicated low awareness about biosecurity and the role individuals played.
Three in 10 people had not heard of biosecurity while another four in 10 knew of it but could not explain it.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability of animals to spread disease to humans was well known.
But far fewer were aware it could happen the other way.
When it came to handwashing, 64 per cent of people did so after - but not before - touching farm animals, meaning they were probably not considering their impact on transmitting threatening diseases to livestock, Dr da Costa said.
She said research often focused on farmers, veterinarians and specific measures to contain disease spread.
"But what about the people who walk with their dogs, go into fields, who take picnics ... do they know they have a role to play in this transmission?" Dr da Costa told the conference.
Biosecurity is the way humans stop the introduction and spread of harmful organisms such as viruses, bacteria, animals, plants, pathogens and insects into an area.
Its importance was highlighted during inquiries into the origins of the virus causing COVID-19, which was assumed to have jumped to humans from bats or another closely related mammal.
Wargaming for the emergence of the next, unknown pandemic-causing virus - Disease X - had also grabbed the attention of experts at the International Symposium on Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics.
But holding our breath for technological fixes might not be necessary.
"It keeps coming back to human behaviour," conference leader Michael Ward told AAP.
He pointed to humans knowing exactly how to control rabies, despite it killing 70,000 people a year.
"A lot of it is biosecurity, basic stuff - it doesn't have to be all that fancy," Professor Ward said.
That is good news with so many diseases on Australia's doorstep, including foot-and-mouth disease, African swine flu and the deadly H5 bird flu.
Australia remains the only continent with only a handful of recorded cases of the bird flu strain.
"It's about preparedness - how you analyse data, how you design surveillance," Prof Wood said.
"All of that doesn't have to be disease-specific."
The federal government is investing more than $100 million to enhance national preparedness and response capability to H5 bird flu.
