Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Department of Environment Department of Industry, Innovation and Science National Health and Medical Research Council Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Compendium of findings from the National Hendra Virus Research Program COMPENDIUM OF FINDINGS FROM THE 2 NATIONAL HENDRA VIRUS RESEARCH PROGRAM © 2016 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-74254-847-0 ISSN 1440-6845 Compendium of findings from the National Hendra Virus Research Program Publication No. 16/001 The information contained in this publication is intended for general use to assist public knowledge and discussion and to help improve the development of sustainable regions. You must not rely on any information contained in this publication without taking specialist advice relevant to your particular circumstances. While reasonable care has been taken in preparing this publication to ensure that information is true and correct, the Commonwealth of Australia gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information in this publication. The Commonwealth of Australia, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), the authors or contributors expressly disclaim, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any act or omission, or for any consequences of any such act or omission, made in reliance on the contents of this publication, whether or not caused by any negligence on the part of the Commonwealth of Australia, RIRDC, the authors or contributors. The Commonwealth of Australia does not necessarily endorse the views in this publication. This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. However, wide dissemination is encouraged. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to RIRDC Communications on phone 02 6271 4100. RIRDC Contact Details Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Level 2, 15 National Circuit,BARTON ACT 2600 PO Box 4776, KINGSTON ACT 2604 Phone: 02 6271 4100 or 1300 634 313 Fax: 02 6271 4199 Email: [email protected] Web: www.rirdc.gov.au Electronically published by RIRDC in May 2016 Print-on-demand by Union Offset Printing, Canberra at www.rirdc.gov.au FOREWORD 3 Foreword A multi-jurisdictional Steering Committee of Jim Thompson the National Hendra Virus Research Program Chief Biosecurity Officer, was established to recommend the allocation Department of Agriculture of these funds to high-impact research and Fisheries. projects and to monitor and review project Chair of the National Hendra deliverables. The National Health and Medical Virus Research Program Research Council (NHMRC) also allocated Steering Committee. $3 million to better understand Hendra virus, and CSIRO devoted funds to Hendra virus- related research through its Australian Animal Hendra virus is a zoonotic disease that spills Health Laboratories. over from flying foxes to horses, and then can be transmitted to other horses, humans and dogs. It has A total of 20 projects were funded under a high fatality rate (>79 per cent in horses and 57 per the National Hendra Virus Research Program. cent in humans) giving it both veterinary and public Eight of these were managed by the Rural health significance. Industries Research and Development Corporation, eight were managed by the Hendra virus was first identified in Australia in 1994 NHMRC, and the remaining four by the and occurred intermittently, with a total of 14 incidents Queensland and the New South Wales in the period 1994 to 2010. However, there was an State Governments. increase in the number of reported incidents between June and August 2011 (18 incidents). These caused the This compendium outlines the findings of these deaths of 23 horses and the euthanasia of the first 20 projects under the National Hendra Virus dog infected with Hendra virus. Research Program; the collaborative effort This sparked a great deal of concern across the leading to a better understanding of Hendra horse industry, as well as in the veterinary and virus. This understanding will lead to improved public health sectors and with the public at large. management of flying foxes and horses when The unprecedented year of Hendra virus incidents selecting strategies to mitigate the risk of prompted the establishment of the National Hendra Hendra virus infection in Australia. Virus Research Program, to fund research leading to strategies to minimise the impact of Hendra virus. The researchers are to be congratulated on the delivery of high quality research. In July 2011, a Joint Government Hendra Virus The cooperative multi-jurisdictional Taskforce was established and the Australian commitment of the Australian Government Government and the Governments of New South and the Governments of New South Wales and Wales and Queensland each announced funding Queensland has been critical to ensure the commitments of $3 million for Hendra virus research, funds delivered research that helped minimise development and extension activities. the impact of Hendra virus. COMPENDIUM OF FINDINGS FROM THE 4 NATIONAL HENDRA VIRUS RESEARCH PROGRAM Photos on this page by Justin Welbergen. CONTENTS 5 Contents P3 REDUCING THE RISK OF HENDRA VIRUS IN HORSES Foreword P26 P6 Flying fox dispersal and Hendra virus risk Research highlights P28 Additional research required in relation to the FLYING FOXES AND HENDRA VIRUS development of the horse Hendra virus vaccine P8 P30 Implementing a national flying fox Longitudinal cohort study of horse owners monitoring program P10 HENDRA VIRUS IN HUMANS Models to predict Hendra virus prevalence P32 in flying fox populations Structural studies of Hendra virus replication P12 P34 Hendra virus infection and transmission dynamics Defining the role of microRNAs in human P14 Hendra virus infections Spikes in Hendra virus spillover: early warning P36 through the bat urinary metabolome Identification of viral-cellular interacting P16 factors for an in-depth understanding of the Models that predict risk for Hendra virus Hendra virus life cycle and pathogenesis transmission from flying foxes to horses P38 Understanding pathogenicity and immunity HORSES, OTHER ANIMALS AND HENDRA VIRUS in an encephalitic mouse model of Hendra P18 virus infection Early detection of Hendra virus infection by microRNA profiling REDUCING THE RISK OF HENDRA VIRUS IN HUMANS P20 P40 Assessing the risks posed by Hendra virus Can the bat immune response to Hendra antibody positive animals virus inform drug and vaccine development P22 in other species? Development of improved diagnostics and P42 therapeutics for Hendra virus infections Hendra virus vaccine P24 P44 Hendra virus in dogs New Hendra virus treatments P46 Development and testing of a monoclonal antibody COMPENDIUM OF FINDINGS FROM THE 6 NATIONAL HENDRA VIRUS RESEARCH PROGRAM Research highlights The key objective of the National Hendra Virus Research Program was to better understand Hendra virus by learning more about factors that lead to its transmission, and modelling and predicting the nature and impacts of the virus. The research funded through the Program has A National Flying Fox Monitoring Program been carried out with the aim of better managing documented the distribution and abundance of and mitigating the risk of Hendra virus infection in four species across more than 700 camps along the humans, horses and other animals. eastern seaboard, and developed a spatial model of flying fox colony dynamics, both of which will assist in The projects outlined in this compendium are the developing risk maps for the transmission of the virus. result of a remarkable and borderless collaboration between policy makers, research scientists here Research monitoring Hendra virus excretion and and overseas, and Commonwealth, state and local infection in flying fox roosts over a 2300km stretch authorities, to enhance research, expertise and from Cairns to Batemans Bay has highlighted the capacity in relation to Hendra virus. need for a management strategy at a regional or larger scale, and independent of state borders. Most prominent in the highlights of this research has been the development of a post-exposure For the first time scientists have identified prophylaxis for Hendra virus in humans, trialled biomarkers that could indicate periods of increased in 40 volunteers to date without issue, and a pre- Hendra virus risk, by analysing the urinary metabolic exposure vaccination for the virus in horses. profiles for flying foxes when they experience conditions, yet to be identified, that cause an At the same time there have been promising results increase in the replication of Hendra virus. from preliminary research that may lead to a self- administered vaccine, that people working with Another project revealed that the length of time horses or who have been exposed to a Hendra virus the virus survived did not influence the pattern of outbreak can apply via the mouth or nose. ‘spillover’ events from flying foxes to horses, but rather that transmission of Hendra virus was likely Projects were developed under five key themes: to involve relatively direct contact of horses with y flying foxes and Hendra virus flying fox excreta shortly after excretion. y horses and other animals and Hendra virus Research into the possibility that Hendra virus y reducing the risk of Hendra virus in horses could persist in animals that