A virus that is transmitted from horses to humans has reemerged in Queensland 12 months after killing a racehorse trainer. The virus, equine morbillivirus, was found this week in the blood of a sugar cane farmer from Mackay in central Queensland, who died last weekend.
ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ authorities in Queensland believe that the farmer, Mark Preston, may have been exposed to the virus in August last year when he helped to perform an autopsy on a horse at a stud farm near Mackay. His wife Margaret, who owned the horse and is a vet, directed the autopsy. So far she has not contracted the disease. Samples from the horse tested this week at the Australian Animal ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ Laboratory near Melbourne were found to be infected with the virus.
The virus first emerged in September last year in a Brisbane suburb (This Week, 8 October 1994).
