Important notice - UQ VETS Hendra Virus Policy

Policy Summary

Before being admitted to the UQ VETS Equine Specialist Hospital (ESH), a horse must either be vaccinated or have had an exclusion test performed.

The University of Queensland supports vaccination against the Hendra virus.

• Vaccination appears to be the single most effective way of preventing Hendra virus infection in horses.
• Vaccination is an important measure to prevent equine infection and, as a consequence, provides a public health and workplace health and safety benefit.
• In vaccine trials, viral shedding was not detected in immunised horses after Hendra virus challenge.
• No evidence of Hendra virus replication has been detected in any tissue of vaccinated horses.

Hendra vaccination

A horse will be deemed to be vaccinated against Hendra virus if it is compliant with current label recommendations for use of the vaccine product registered in Australia (EquivacRHeV).

The 2017 vaccination recommendations are as per below:

• Hendra vaccination is defined as yearly vaccination after a set of three initial doses.
• The two initial doses are to be administered 21 to 42 days apart and followed by a third dose to be administered 6 months later.
• Based on current evidence, vaccination can be commenced at four months of age and protective serum neutralising antibody levels are achieved 21 days after the second initial dose of vaccine and 7 days after the third initial dose;
• a horse will be considered adequately vaccinated from 3 weeks to 6 months after its second initial dose of vaccine and from 1 week to 1 year after the third initial dose of vaccine.

Hendra exclusion testing

Hendra exclusion test is defined as a negative PCR performed in the Biosecurity Queensland Coopers Plains Laboratory.

• Based on current evidence, samples that can be submitted for Hendra virus exclusion include blood in an EDTA tube and a never frozen nasal swab.
• Because of the incubation period, in order for a non-vaccinated horse to be admitted to the ESH, the above-mentioned samples must have been collected and submitted less than 48 hours before a scheduled appointment or an emergency referral.
• After sample collection, non-vaccinated horses must be kept indoors from dusk to dawn until the appointment at the ESH.

Download the full policy in pdf format (450Kb).