Lethal horse virus heads south to threaten stud farms

THE deadly Hendra virus is advancing down the eastern seaboard, with NSW biosecurity scrambling yesterday to contain an outbreak on the mid-north coast.

Horse trainer Robert Bradford hendra

THE deadly Hendra virus is advancing down the eastern seaboard, with NSW biosecurity scrambling yesterday to contain an outbreak on the state's mid-north coast.

A horse that died on a property near Macksville, 50km south of Coffs Harbour, is the second in NSW to have succumbed in a fortnight, with the bat-borne disease detected further south than ever before. The state has been free of Hendra for the past five years and its sudden eruption will sound alarm bells, particularly in the world-famous thoroughbred horse breeding preserve of the Upper Hunter Valley, only four hours' drive away.

The Macksville outbreak, confirmed yesterday when test results came back for a 16-year-old mare that died on Sunday, comes on top of a Hendra emergency in southern Queensland that has so far killed five horses, put eight properties under quarantine and exposed 17 people to infection. The other NSW Hendra case involved the death of a horse on June 30 at Wollongbar, east of Lismore, and the exposure of nine people. Another six people, including a vet, have been exposed in the Macksville incident, though none is considered at serious risk.

While Hendra outbreaks have been relatively regular in Queensland since the disease was identified in 1994 - averaging one or two a year - the only other known NSW case was in 2006 near Murwillumbah, just over the border. NSW chief vet Ian Roth confirmed yesterday the Macksville outbreak was the most southerly on record, and underlined how health authorities did not "really understand the full picture" of how the virus was spread by flying foxes.

Macksville racehorse trainer Robert Bradford, 47, whose property is near the quarantined property, said the arrival of Hendra in the area was devastating.

"I can only lock up seven horses and then I'm still left with 11 of them out in paddocks," he said.

"I try to keep the horses away from trees and the water, but it's all out in the open."

Queensland's chief veterinary officer, Rick Symons, told The Australian that flying foxes ranged as far south as Victoria, and all bats had to be regarded as potential carriers of the disease.

"What's happening this year is obviously worse than any in the past in terms of spreading the virus," Dr Symons said.

Mr Roth said bio-investigators were satisfied the infected Macksville horse had not been off the quarantined property and had contracted the virus there.

The property contains fig trees, which are known to attract bats when flowering at this time of year. Three other horses on the property remained outwardly well.

The infected mare started to show signs of illness last Friday, but not with the flu-like symptoms generally associated with Hendra, Mr Roth said.

The horse was "wobbly on its legs and didn't know what it was doing", he said. Its condition deteriorated rapidly on Saturday and a local vet, alert to the risk, donned full protective gear before taking the samples that yesterday confirmed the Hendra case.

Scientists believe horses are infected with the virus when they ingest the droppings or secretions of bats.

People, in turn, are put at risk if they come into contact with the bodily fluids of sick horses.

Fortunately, the virus dies within hours outside its animal host, and the level of exposure needs to be hefty for a person to contract it.

Seven people are known to have caught the disease from sick horses, and four of them died. The latest outbreak, however, appears to be more lethal to horses than previous ones.

Tests of a flying fox colony near Boonah, southwest of Brisbane, have shown that 30 per cent of the animals were carrying active Hendra virus, compared with the standard 7 per cent.

The Mayor of Macksville-based Nambucca Shire Council, Rhonda Hoban, said people were worried that bat numbers seemed to have swelled, and the bats were also nesting nearer to residential areas. "It darkens the sky when they move all at once," she said.