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(Narrator) Three quarters of all emerging
infectious diseases of humans emanate from animals
Avian Flu, Ebola and SARS are just some.
The most deadly zoonotic disease in Australia is the Hendra virus.
(Woman narrator) In September 1994, 14 horses died at a Brisbane
stable from an unknown respiratory disease.
(Narrator) Brisbane racehorse trainer Vic Rail died after treating
an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in his stables,
which left 19 of his horses dead.
He was the first victim of the newly
emerging infectious disease, Hendra virus.
(Woman narrator) The Queensland Department of Primary Industry
introduced full quarantine restrictions
and the industry recognised they had a major emergency on their hands.
(Narrator) A Hendra Virus Research team was immediately set up
at CSIRO's National Facility,
the Australian Animal Health Laboratory
to determine the origin of this highly pathogenic
disease and the risk it posed to the community.
The horses were infected with the disease by bats,
which harbour the Hendra virus.
Close contact with horses is the only way the disease
has transmitted to humans but once infected, humans
have only a forty percent chance of survival.
(Dr Deborah Middleton) Well Hendra virus is one of the most deadly
viruses that we've identified. About seventy-five percent of
infected horses will die from the infection and about
sixty percent of people who are affected
by Hendra virus will also die.
(Narrator) The team's first significant breakthrough was in fully
sequencing the virus genome and identifying its structure.
They also identified a new genus Henipavirus,
which includes Nipah virus, a disease that has claimed
hundreds of lives in Malaysia, Bangladesh and India.
(Dr Deborah Middleton) Hendra virus and Nipah virus
are very closely related to each other.
They form a separate little group in the virus family
and probably the really transformational breakthrough
was the discovery of which part of the Hendra virus
particle is needed to cause infection in the host cell.
And once that was characterized we were able to
generate a way of blocking that infection.
(Narrator) The work posed daily risk for the researchers.
(Dr Deborah Middleton) Well the virus is a very dangerous virus
but we do operate at the highest level of biocontainment,
which is Biosafety Level 4. The main thing, or the most
obvious thing is that we work in totally encapsulated
suits with an independent breathing air supply.
So we're separating ourselves from any possible exposure to the virus.
(Narrator) In 2012 after the death of two equine veterinarians
in Queensland the State and federal Governments commissioned
the team, along with commercial partner Pfiser Animal Health
now Zoetis - to develop an effective Hendra virus vaccine.
After extensive trials, the vaccine Equivac was launched.
The first licensed commercially available vaccine in the world
for use against an agent that requires Physical Containment level 4.
(Mike van Blommestein) Today we're launching and very pleased to launch
Equivac Hendra Vaccine, which will become a significant
tool in the fight against the deadly Hendra Virus.
(Narrator) This was a strategic approach to protecting humans
from the disease by targeting the virus at its source.
(Dr Deborah Middleton) There will be an ongoing need for a human
post exposure therapeutic and so we're continuing our work
with the human monoclonal antibody as a treatment that
can be given to people who are exposed to Hendra virus.
Now that work has progressed very well and we are participating
in a phase one clinical trial of that therapeutic in 2014.
(Narrator) The Equivac horse vaccine will save human lives
and reduce the danger of more lethal strains or mutations emerging,
while the antibody therapy will give those infected
with the Hendra virus a better chance of survival.
The CSIRO Hendra Virus Vaccine team
has become one of the world's leading zoonotic disease research teams.
It has made significant contributions, not only to combating
the Hendra and Nipah viruses, but to understanding
other important emerging viruses.
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