Hendra and Nipah Virus Diseases

Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV) emerged in the last decade of the twentieth century as the causes of outbreaks of respiratory and neurological disease that infected a number of animal species. In 1994, HeV caused severe respiratory disease and the death of 13 horses and a horse trainer at a stable in Brisbane, Australia. Between September 1998 and April 1999, after spreading unrecognised as a respiratory or encephalitic infection in Malaysian pigs, NiV appeared in the human population there and was the cause of fatal encephalitis. Over one million pigs were culled to stop spread of the disease. HeV has caused the death of four of seven infected people while it has been reported that there have been 400 cases of NiV in humans, with approximately 200 deaths, in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India. Fruit bats (flying foxes) in the genus Pteropus are natural hosts of both viruses.