Vaccine against Hendra virus found 17 years after trainer's death

ALMOST 17 years after a mysterious illness killed Queensland horse trainer Vic Rail, CSIRO 
scientists will today announce they've developed a vaccine against the lethal Hendra virus.

Deborah Middleton, a veterinary pathologist with CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, will describe the vaccine that protects horses against the virus, contracted through contact with flying foxes.

Dr Middleton said stopping the disease in horses could also be the first step towards a vaccine for people. A US-made treatment involving injection of microbe-fighting antibodies has so far not met expectations.

"It's very good news," said Queensland veterinarian Tim Annand.

In 2009, he attended what would become the 13th and 14th cases of Hendra virus in horses."It doesn't help us as humans directly, but it means all horses could be required to be vaccinated before we see them," Dr Annand said.

Hendra virus first appeared in 1994 and five of the 14 known outbreaks spread to seven people, the first killing Rail.

One of the three other people killed was Dr Annand's friend and colleague, Rockhampton veterinarian Alister Rodgers.

Dr Middleton will tell delegates to the Australian Veterinary Association conference in Adelaide that if field trials and registration progress as expected, the vaccine could be available next year.

AVA president Barry Smyth encouraged veterinarians and others who come in close contact with horses to report suspected cases immediately and continue "precautions that reduce the risk of spreading the virus". According to Dr Annand, that means keeping horses away from trees where flying foxes are feeding.

The vaccine is a collaborative effort between Dr Middleton's AAHL group and one led by Christopher Broder of the US government's Uniformed Services University. Funding here came from the Queensland and federal governments. The scientists built on work at AAHL, revealing that the virus, named for the Brisbane suburb in which it was first observed, is part of a new sub-group, Henipavirus, within the family Paramyxoviridae.

Using that information, the team reported in the July 2008 issue of the journal Vaccine that a so-called recombinante vaccine they'd developed produced an immune response in cats exposed to the closely related Nipah virus, also contracted from flying foxes.

In 2009, the international group reported they were able to demonstrate that the vaccine's immune building capacity protected animals from contracting the Nipah virus.