The imperative to develop a human vaccine for the Hendra virus in Australia

Zahoor, Bilal A.; Mudie, Lucy I.

The emergence of bats as propagators or facilitators of zoonotic infections is repeatedly being highlighted in various global epidemics. In late 2012, a Hendra-equine vaccine was introduced to prevent HeV infections among equines, thereby theoretically eliminating any predisposition of infection to humans (2, 6) . In part, due to the low prevalence of HeV among equines, and the lack of an accurate diagnostic test, the efficacy of the equine vaccine remains to be tested (3) . Ongoing research reveals that HeV strains are rapidly changing as are the associated symptoms (7, 11, 12) . This is best demonstrated, as aforementioned, when a human infection was acquired from an asymptomatic HeV-infected equine. Second, the recent case of a canine-related death, in addition to a prior canine HeV infection reported much earlier, lends support to the adaptive nature of HeV (3, 9) . Previously, only fruit bats, equines, and humans were infected (5) . The rapid and substantial environmental impact by humans and their activities are directly responsible for the erosion of bats' habitats, usually because of economic and/or geographic expansion. As a result, HeV infections are emerging in locations far beyond bats' typical migratory boundaries, implying that, wherever fruit bats go, the risk for HeV infection increases (13) .