MicrobiologyBytes

An Australian veterinarian infected by the killer Hendra virus was admitted to a hospital in Queensland on August 27th. The vet contracted the virus after performing an autopsy on a horse last week. There are reportedly two known current cases of Hendra in horses in Queensland.
Hendra virus is a paramyxovirus unrelated to the equine influenza virus currently sweeping Australia, but an outbreak of Hendra has even greater personal ramifications for humans. Whereas equine influenza cannot kill humans, Hendra virus can and has. Symptoms of Hendra virus infection in humans may be respiratory, including haemorrhage and oedema of the lungs, or encephalitic resulting in meningitis. In horses, infection usually causes pulmonary oedema and congestion. It is believed fruit bats are the natural host of the virus, formerly known as equine morbillivirus.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 5:43 am and is filed under Biology, Emerging disease, Health, Medicine, Microbiology, Science, Virology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.