Leane takes no risks with Hendra

LEANE Williams has had both her horses vaccinated against the Hendra virus but admits she was nervous to start with.

PROTECTION: Leane Williams has had her horse Royal Outrage (Rupert) vaccinated against for Hendra. Picture: Ali Kuchel

LEANE Williams has had both her horses vaccinated against the Hendra virus but admits she was nervous to start with.

"I was a bit worried about the side effects," she said.

"But I went to a number of seminars before I had them vaccinated."

Last week, the Zoetis Hendra vaccination HeV became a registered vaccination with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

The Equivac HeV was first made available in 2012 after a growing number of outbreaks and subsequent horse deaths in Queensland and New South Wales.

The full vaccination registration comes less than two weeks after reports of a second Hendra virus outbreak in 2015.

Leane said she didn't believe the Hendra virus to pose a big risk but she wanted to make sure her horses would still be treated by veterinarians.

The Hendra virus can be transmitted from animals to humans which makes it a bio-security safety level- four disease agent, which is one of the most dangerous in the world.

Fruit bats are the natural hosts but the disease can be transmitted from horse-to- horse, horse-to-dog and horse-to-human.

Equivac HeV is a 1ml vaccine which is injected intramuscularly into horses.

The vaccine is a "subunit" vaccine, meaning it contains a small part of protein from the virus - not the virus.

Dr Frank Condon from Tablelands Veterinary Clinic reported the most recent case.