Experimental vaccine protects against Hendra virus

Trials by the CSIRO have shown that an experimental vaccine can protect horses against the deadly Hendra virus. Stopping the disease in horses could also help protect people from the disease.

Dr Deborah Middleton from CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) said: “A horse vaccine is crucial to breaking the cycle of Hendra virus transmission from flying foxes to horses and then to people, as it prevents both the horse developing the disease and passing it on.”

Hendra virus first appeared in 1994 and five of the 14 known outbreaks have spread to people. The virus has killed four of the seven people infected.

Depending on further development, field trials and registration, the vaccine may be available as early as 2012.

Dr Barry Smyth, President of the Australian Veterinary Association, said that the news on the vaccine will be welcomed by both vets and horse owners.

“It’s important that veterinarians and horse owners continue with precautions that reduce the risk of spreading the virus and that they report suspected cases immediately,” Dr Smyth said.

Recent work on evaluating the vaccine was jointly funded by the CSIRO, the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Queensland Government Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

The development of the vaccine goes back more than 10 years to shortly after CSIRO scientists first isolated the virus following the first outbreak of the disease in Hendra, Queensland.

Development and source of the vaccine is the result of a close collaboration with Dr Christopher Broder of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (the US federal health sciences university) supported by the US National Institutes of Health, but the high biocontainment facility at AAHL was essential for evaluating its beneficial effects.

“Our biosecurity facility at AAHL is the only laboratory in the world where this work could have been done. It has been slow, painstaking and high-risk work and the credit is due to many people who’ve worked on this since 1994,” Dr Middleton said.