Twenty years of Hendra virus: laboratory submission trends and risk factors for infection in horses.

Hendra virus (HeV) was first described in 1994 in an outbreak of acute and highly lethal disease in horses and humans in Australia. Equine cases continue to be diagnosed periodically, yet the predisposing factors for infection remain unclear. We undertook an analysis of equine submissions tested for HeV by the Queensland government veterinary reference laboratory over a 20-year period to identify and investigate any patterns.

Variable-number tandem repeats genotyping used to aid and inform management strategies for a bovine Johne's disease incursion in tropical and subtropical Australia.

The application of variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) genotyping of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates to assist in investigating incidents of bovine Johne's disease in a low-prevalence region of Australia is described in the current study. Isolates from a response to detection of bovine Johne's disease in Queensland were compared with strains from national and international sources.

Validation of an influenza virus A 5'Taq nuclease assay for the detection of equine influenza virus A RNA in nasal swab samples.

Objective: Describe the in-house validation of a previously reported influenza virus type A 5'Taq nuclease assay for detecting equine influenza virus A RNA in nasal swab material.

Methods: The validation compares the 5'Taq nuclease assay with a gel-based reverse transcription nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) previously reported by the Irish Equine Centre for detection of H3N8 and H7N7 equine influenza viruses. This test was chosen because it targets a different region of the viral genome to the real-time test, so it is not merely a repeat of the same test in a different format.

Responding to the equine influenza outbreak: challenges from a laboratory perspective.

The unique challenges that laboratories in Queensland and New South Wales faced during the response to the 2007 equine influenza outbreak and how these were managed are described.

Hendra virus outbreak with novel clinical features, Australia.

To determine the epidemiologic and clinical features of a 2008 outbreak of Hendra virus infection in a veterinary clinic in Australia, we investigated the equine case-series. Four of 5 infected horses died, as did 1 of 2 infected staff members. Clinical manifestation in horses was predominantly neurologic.