This could be the start of something big—20 years since the identification of bats as the natural host of Hendra virus

Black, Peter; Douglas, Ian; Field, Hume

After a review of the initial research in the context of the new case information, the group concluded that the prime suspect would have been present in both Brisbane and Mackay, and either be capable of moving between both locations, or exist in continuous, overlapping populations encompassing both locations. The notion of a more sedentary host "hitch-hiking" on a vehicle was considered and rejected, and it was concluded that the natural host would likely be volant. Indeed, the same bird species were observed to forage around horses at both the Brisbane and Mackay properties. Dr Hamish McCallum, at that time a zoologist at the University of Queensland, suggested that flying foxes (nomadic fruit bats of the genus Pteropus) also be considered. After some discussion, it was (somewhat naively) thought that flying foxes, being mammals, were more likely than birds to host viruses that might infect horses and humans. The meeting closed with bats, insects, and cats as the top targets for future studies (Table 1) .