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The sad news today that a vetinarian from Queensland has died after contracting the rare horse virus "Hendra Virus" which has now claimed the lives of three men. The virus came to light a few years ago, where a number of horses at the Brisbane suburb of Hendra, after which the virus was named, became infected with the virus.

It is thought that the Hendra virus is carried by fruit bats, which are common place in Queensland, and often sit in trees around horse stables. It is not known exactly how the disease is transmitted, and may well come from the faeces of the fruit bats.

The virus first came to notice in 1994,when quite a number of race horses died, along with the trainer. Some years later a man, unconnected with the first outbreak died.

The recent death, yesterday (August 20th) was following an outbreak at Redland Bay, south of the city of Brisbane, where a number of horses died, and two staff members of the veterinary clinic have been in hospital in a serious condition.

Now one person remains in hospital, and we are all hoping that the outcome will be much better for the person concerned. Even last week a horse, which had the disease and has since recovered and shows no signs of the virus was "put down" because of the fear that the horse may become ill in the future and risk the lives of other horses or humans. As the horse was being euthanased one of the staff received a "needle stick" injury, and is also now in hospital, though it is unlikely that this person will contract the illness.

It is hard for the government to do anything about the fruit bats - there are thousands of them around the state, and it would be impossible to eradicate them all, even if it was considered a good idea.

When will the next outbreak occur? What can be done to reduce the risk? At the moment there is no answer to these questions.

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