Hendra virus infects a horse in south Queensland – authorities fear spread

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 20 2010

A horse was put down at Tewantin, near Noosa and it was confirmed that it had Hendra virus infection. At present quarantine measures are being taken.

Hendra virus was previously known as equine morbillivirus. It was first described in 1994 after a series of infections in horse that affected their respiratory and nervous systems. While in horse it is rapidly fatal, in humans many present with flu like symptoms. In some cases however it may cause inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis. The patient may present with high fever, headache, drowsiness, seizures or even coma. Transmission occurs only from infected horses to humans who come in contact with horse secretions and tissues. Human to human transfer is not known. From the time of exposure the disease in humans may appear any time between 5 to 21 days.

According to Biosecurity Queensland's Ron Glanville investigations are on to find the number of people who have been exposed to the virus. Up to seven people exposed to the infected horse will wait for the next six weeks to find out if they are clear of the virus. He said, “We take any case of Hendra virus very seriously… It's not highly infectious as we've identified before, but if you do get it it's a very serious disease…. It's certainly got a higher than 50 per cent mortality rate in any horse or person that gets it.” In the last 15 years there have been four human deaths related to this virus and there have been 41 horse deaths since 1994.

The Australian Veterinary Association has urged the government to release more funds to tackle such outbreaks. Queensland Horse Industry Council is also on the move to raise funds to support research and trial of Hendra vaccines for horses at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory. Council spokesman Peter Reid said that his earlier attempts to release funds had failed. “The reason was there has been significant amounts of money expended on research on Hendra virus over the years, but specifically for a vaccine trial in horses, there wasn't money to be found to actually have that done,” he said.

At present Queensland Health is offering free testing and counselling for anyone concerned.