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Preparing for Hendra virus

A Tewantin property on the Sunshine Coast has recently been affected by the latest Hendra virus outbreak with 11 people facing anxious waits for results.

If you have a horse related business, now is a good time to review your risk management systems for Hendra virus in order to protect you, your workers and others from this serious disease.

What is Hendra virus?
Hendra virus is a rare disease of horses and humans that can cause serious and life threatening illness. The natural hosts of Hendra virus are bats (flying foxes) which can then pass the virus onto horses. Human infection results from close contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of an infected horse.

Prevention:
You can take steps to limit interaction between flying foxes and horses on your property by:

• preventing horse access to areas where flying foxes roost
• removing horses between dusk and dawn from areas where flying foxes feed
• removing horses from areas that have flowering or fruiting plants that flying foxes feed on and returning horses to these areas once flowering/fruiting has finished.
• consider replacing trees that are attractive to flying foxes with non-attractive trees
• avoiding horse feed that may be attractive to flying foxes (e.g. molasses and fruit)
• covering horses’ feed and water points to prevent contamination by flying foxes.

You should also develop a plan for managing and responding to suspect or confirmed cases of Hendra virus at your workplace and communicate and train your workers in its implementation. This should include:

• segregating sick horses from others until you have received a veterinary opinion
• minimising contact with sick horses and their blood and body fluids, and washing off any contamination
• covering cuts and abrasions and wearing personal protective equipment when handling sick horses and instructing workers in its use
• washing hands and showering after attending to sick horses and before handling other horses.

For more information on the Hendra virus visit the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website www.worksafe.qld.gov.au or call the Workplace Health and Safety Infoline on 1300 369 915.

Other resources:

• Biosecurity Queensland – visit www.dpi.qld.gov.au or call 13 25 23.
• Queensland Horse Council – visit http://www.qldhorsecouncil.com/default.aspx
• Queensland Health – visit www.health.qld.gov.au or call 13 HEALTH (1300 43 25 84) for more information on Hendra virus in humans.