Truemors
Hendra virus (formerly called equine morbillivirus) is a member of the family Paramyxoviridae. The virus was first isolated in 1994 from specimens obtained during an outbreak of respiratory and neurologic disease in horses and humans in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia.
Nipah virus, also a member of the family Paramyxoviridae, is related but not identical to Hendra virus. Nipah virus was initially isolated in 1999 upon examining samples from an outbreak of encephalitis and respiratory illness among adult men in Malaysia and Singapore. Its name originated from Sungai Nipah, a village in the Malaysian Penninsula where pig farmers became ill with encephalitis.
LEADING Sydney veterinary surgeon Dr Nick Kannegeiter has expressed fears that staff at the Brisbane clinic where two horses died as a result of the Hendra virus could have been exposed to the disease linked to the death of trainer Vic Rail.
The Redlands Veterinary Clinic has been placed in quarantine after one thoroughbred died and a second horse had to be put down when they contracted the disease, while three more horses have tested positive.
Dr Kannegeiter, who is based in Sydney but travels to perform surgery, is among the 30-odd staff potentially exposed to the Hendra virus.
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