Sixth Dead from Hendra

A sixth horse has died from Hendra virus at a property near Ballina, on the NSW North Coast.

“The property has been quarantined and the infected horse has been euthanised and buried on the property,” NSW Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Ian Roth said.

“There are two other at risk horses on the quarantined property, both of which are currently showing no signs of illness.

“These horses will be closely monitored and following an initial test, further laboratory testing will be carried out 16 and 32 days following the last contact with the infected horse.”

Dr Roth said the horse was noticeably ill late on Sunday and deteriorated rapidly during the night and into Monday.

“A private veterinarian took blood and swabs from the sick horse and sent the sample to NSW DPI’s Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute for laboratory analysis – results confirmed the Hendra virus last night,” he said.

Hendra in NSW snapshot (since 30/6/2011):

• 5 properties have been confirmed positive for the Hendra virus 
• 150 properties have been confirmed as negative for the Hendra virus, with further confirmatory antibody testing still underway on some properties 
• Awaiting results for 5 samples.
• 3 properties remain in quarantine – Lismore, Mullumbimby and Ballina.

The quarantine on the second infected property at Macksville was lifted yesterday when final samples from the remaining horses and the cats on the property were confirmed to be negative.

Important information

NSW DPI advises horse owners to take precautions in areas with flying foxes - to reduce the risk of their horses becoming infected:

• Place feed and water containers under cover.
• Do not place feed and water under trees, especially trees with fruit.
• Do not use feed that could attract flying foxes, such as apples, carrots, or molasses.
• Remove horses from paddocks where fruiting or flowering trees have temporarily attracted flying foxes.
• If it is not possible to remove the horse from the paddock, tape off the area under the tree.

www.agriculture.nsw.gov.au/info/hendra

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NSWHendraHQ